$1000000 Reward [Hyakumandoru no Kensho].

Tokyo, Shunkodo 1920 (Taisho 1920). Octavo publisher's illustrated wrapper printed in red and black and colour illustrated dustwrapper (the spine of this insect nibbled); two photo plates and illustrated title. Stab holes indicating this had been in some outer binding; natural browning of the paper; an outstanding copy. An owner's seal and brushed inscription inside the front cover and on the back cover suggests this is some kind of file copy.
¶ A pulpish film edition in Japanese translation of the 1920 serial thriller $1,000,000 Reward starring Lillian Walker. The film itself is lost and from what I can figure out not much more than production credits and a partial list of chapter headings survives in English. This book is near as lost, I can find only one record of another copy - not in a library.

Richard Neylon, BooksellerProfessional seller

Book number: 10471

Keywords: literature fiction thrillers c20th Japan modernism film cinema

Albumen photograph of a young Japanese woman dressed as a man.

n.p. c1880? Albumen print mounted on card, 6x10cm, with red border, printed on the back. Edges of the print a touch nibbled.
¶ Inscribed on the back is, I'm told, - Yoshiwara Edomachi Daimonjiro Handayu. The Daimonji was one of the grandest of pleasure palaces in the Yoshiwara.I'm not convinced by this inscription. Another photograph from the same source had a similar inscription on the back in a different, possibly earlier, hand: ? - Diaimonji _ _Tayu. Tayu can mean a high ranking courtesan and certainly that photo is of a completely frocked out woman in a frocked out setting. But our photo is in a different setting on a different mount.This could be a portrait of a woman dressed to suit the taste of some clients. But that coat, waistcoat and maybe shirt collar seem too large for a properly tailored suit and it is a gentleman's outfit, from hat to watch chain. Or the inscription could be a decision made by an owner of both photos that this was a courtesan of that brothel. It seems to be a common decision that any woman dressed as a man was a prostitute. They both look like they were taken in photographers' studios. The undoubted courtesan has some props: an overwhelming robe is on the wall behind her, she has a charcoal brazier and kettle, a dish of snacks and a long pipe. They are both on western looking carpets, not the same one. *In Chinese can be an unmarried woman or it could be a woman who is not afraid of the enemy.

Richard Neylon, BooksellerProfessional seller

Book number: 11263

Keywords: photography c19th Japan women feminism sex costume cross dressing social history

[ERSKINE, Thomas].

Armata. A fragment. [with] The Second Part of Armata.

London, John Murray 1817. Two volumes octavo, together in 19th century half calf, spine elaborately gilded. A bit of browning, a handsome pleasing copy.
¶ Second editions of both parts. This now obscure Antarctic imaginary voyage to another world connected to ours at the south pole might have been popular, in a mild and genteel way: there were supposedly five editions of the first part in 1817 and the second part likewise reached five editions by 1819. It is possible they were manufactured as part of Erskine’s joke in the preface of part two that histories such as this were doomed to obscurity whereas if he called it a romance it was guaranteed two editions at least by the lending libraries alone. While the first and second edition of the first part are different settings, the second and fourth editions are from the same setting. The first and second editions of part two are from the same setting, as is the fourth edition up until signature K which is where Erskine added some footnotes. Erskine's Armata is dystopian in intent but he is too polite and good natured to go overboard about it and although a couple of hundred or so sailors, from earth and from Armata, are obliterated at each end of the book they are dispatched in a sentence each. Even the narrator's beloved Morvina, who is literally killed by her induction into society, is done to death in a quiet half page, the narrator apologetic for being tactless enough to mention it. But, skimming past the legal religious stuff - I couldn't follow the outrageous fraud the clergy put over the government and justice system - there are some delightful scenes of bone crunching mayhem once Armata society sets off for an evening out. Erskine, also now obscure, was once described as the "greatest advocate as well as the first forensic orator who ever appeared in any age" (James High as quoted in Patterson's 'Nobody's Perfect'). He remained all his life a fierce defender of freedom of speech and the liberty of the press with one startling lapse: after defending Thomas Paine at the cost of his own position he prosecuted a bookseller for distributing Paine's writing. Apparently he later returned the retainer in remorse but he remained open to accusations of self interest in that case.

Richard Neylon, BooksellerProfessional seller

Book number: 10416

Keywords: literature science fiction fantasy utopia imaginary voyages c19th Antarctic thrillers Antarctica

Barque "Norna." (Correspondence relative to). [with] ... Further Correspondence.

Sydney, Govt printer 1861. Foolscap disbound; 6pp and 1 page on blue paper.
¶ A sordid story of the treatment of Lascar seamen and, to me, surprising use of authority. Seems if a ship's officer complains to the Water Police that his crew are refusing to obey orders said crew is rounded up and thrown into gaol. The Norna's crew were arrested on the charge of Captain Crawford. The Water Police Magistrate's account here is more defensive than clear but it emerges after much to and froing that one seaman had possibly been murdered at sea and another came close to death in Sydney, due to mistreatment by the captain and second officer. These two were held and charged. Then, the near dead sailor was put back on board the Norna, told that sea voyage would be good for his health and the Norna set sail with a new captain. Probably not a great decision: the Norna was wrecked somewhere round the Coral Sea and most of the crew pretty much marooned by the new captain. But that's another story.

Richard Neylon, BooksellerProfessional seller

Book number: 9769

Keywords: maritime history c19th Australia race racism law crime nautical

[Bohyo to Kinenhi].

Tokyo, Koyosha 1923 (Taisho 12). 19x13cm, loose as issued in publisher's printed boards; 50 leaves, mostly plates printed on one side. An excellent copy.
¶ One of the apparently endless series of small architecture monographs, Kenchiku Shashin Riuju. I wonder if anyone knows how many there were. Some are intriguing and some are pretty drab. Many require a dogged love of gateways and tea rooms. This one is pretty good.Gravestones and memorials, a good mix of old school kitsch and moderne, a few to the edge of extreme. They can be examples of pure design, being free and limitless, as the foreword says, and here are offered as a lesson to Japanese to reform their gloomy and sad approach to marking their dead in the landscape.

Richard Neylon, BooksellerProfessional seller

Book number: 11209

Keywords: architecture design c20th Japan modernism death gravestones monuments sculpture landscape cemeteries memorials

[STEELE, John V].

The Bush Pets' Party.

n.p. [c1938-39]. Largish quarto (320x270mm); eight leaves stiff card, all printed in colour. A little used, quite good. A shabby copy of the companion Mrs Possum's Adventure can be thrown in if wanted.
¶ Four of these large colourful cardboard books, three illustrated by John V. Steele, are known. This is one of the more socially acceptable these days, they are about bush animals. The third is an Australian version of Ten Little Niggers.Having them printed in Japan and saying so on the front cover maybe wasn't great timing. Of the surviving handful of copies known, of all four, a high percentage are missing their front covers. Presumably the rest of the copies went straight into the fire or paper drive bins after Pearl Harbour and Singapore.

Richard Neylon, BooksellerProfessional seller

Book number: 10668

Keywords: literature childrens juvenile illustrated c20th Australia

Exhibition - London 1885-86.

Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1885-86. Report of the Royal Commission for Victoria ...

Melbourne, Govt printer 1887. Foolscap original half morocco; xii,103pp, six autotype or woodburytype photo plates (two folding), six wood engraved plates and a plan. Foxing at each end, still a pleasing handsome copy.A specially bound presentation copy to Melbourne bigwig, Jenkin Collier, one of the commissioners.
¶ The four autotypes are from Lindt photographs and I wondered why they were there until I figured out they must have beeen exhibited and that Lindt gave 6000 copies to the Commission. Among the reports on each class, wine gets the most extensive treatment with a long report by Richard Bannister, a report of Joseph Bosisto's tour of vineyards in France and Spain and a further paper on colonial wines from Bannister.

Richard Neylon, BooksellerProfessional seller

Book number: 10858

Keywords: international exhibitions catalogues c19th Australia trades technology material culture applied arts wine

Exhibition - Tokyo 1890.

[Dai Sankai Naikoku Kangyo Hakurankai Shinkei].

Okada Chubei 1890 (Meiji 23). 38x53cm engraving. Folded, rumpled with some smudges and a short tear in one margin.
¶ The Third National Industrial Exhibition was, as often, a scaled back event: it was planned as an Asian exhibition. I can't find the first electric street car in Japan, unless what looks like an old locomotive with no smoke stack is a lazy artist's stand in. Still, there's no laziness anywhere else here.

Richard Neylon, BooksellerProfessional seller

Book number: 11062

Keywords: technology international exhibitions material culture c19th Japan Asia modernism maps birds eye

Exhibition - Osaka 1903.

[Daigokai naikoku kangyo hakurankai jonai jitchi shukuzu]. Fifth National Industrial Exhibition ... Osaka.

Osaka 1903 (Meiji 36). Colour lithograph 55x79cm; folded as issued. A couple of smudges and spots; a rather good copy with its original colour illustrated outer wrapper,
¶ A pretty good bird's-eye view. The Fifth National Industrial Exhibition in Osaka in 1903, while the last of the series begun in 1877 was the largest and included a lot of firsts. It was the first with a court for foreign countries - quite a few exhibited their wares. It was the first held at night - electricity and illumination was a great feature - and the Japanese public was introduced to wireless telegraphy, American automobiles, x-rays and cinema. A sixth exhibition scheduled for 1907 was to be an international exhibition but that plan fizzled. The Tokyo exhibition of 1907 was pretty grand but not what was hoped for after 1903. It was 1970 before Japan held an international exhibition.

Richard Neylon, BooksellerProfessional seller

Book number: 10263

Keywords: graphic art international exhibitions c20th Japan progress modernism manufactures bird's-eye reform meiji

Exhibition - Osaka 1903.

[Daigokai naikoku kangyo hakurankai mesaizu].

Osaka, Azuma Shintaro 1903 [Meiji 36]. Colour lithograph 40x54cm.
¶ A robustly coloured if roughly printed bird's-eye view. The Fifth National Industrial Exhibition in Osaka in 1903, while the last of the series begun in 1877 was the largest and included a lot of firsts. It was the first with a court for foreign countries - quite a few exhibited their wares. It was the first held at night - electricity and illumination was a great feature - and the Japanese public was introduced to wireless telegraphy, American automobiles, x-rays and cinema. A sixth exhibition scheduled for 1907 was to be an international exhibition but that plan fizzled. The Tokyo exhibition of 1907 was pretty grand but not what was hoped for after 1903. It was 1970 before Japan held a true international exhibition.

Richard Neylon, BooksellerProfessional seller

Book number: 11112

Keywords: graphic art international exhibitions c20th Japan progress modernism manufactures bird's-eye reform meiji maps

Exhibition - Nagoya 1910.

[Daijikkai Kansai fuken rengen kyoshinkai zenzu].

Nagoya Yodatsu Goshigaisha 1910 (Meiji 43]. Colour lithograph 54x78cm with b/w map and photos of Nagoya on the back. Rather good with illustrated outer wrapper.
¶ A handsome large birds-eye view. The 10th Kansai Prefectural Union Exhibition was a big jump from previous shows, held every three years since 1883. This was meant to put Nagoya on the map and so it did. Apparently more than two and a half million visitors went through.

Richard Neylon, BooksellerProfessional seller

Book number: 11113

Keywords: graphic art international exhibitions c20th Japan progress modernism manufactures bird's-eye reform meiji maps

[RYMER, James Malcolm].

The Dark Woman; or, the Days of the Prince Regent.

London, John Dicks 1861-62. Two volumes largish octavo half gilt calf; 104 wood engravings after Gilbert, Sargent and Standfast.
¶ Rare - any and all of Rymer's novels are rare - and an outstanding copy, made more so by being in a handsome contemporary binding of dark green half calf, spines satisfyingly rich with gilt and contrasting labels (the labels consign authorship to Errym, Rymer's most common pseudonym) - almost unknown on penny (or halfpenny) dreadfuls. On the endpapers is the inscription of John Gordon Edward Sibbald, 7th December 1866 and the bindings speak of a well-heeled reverence for what was a trashy thriller but the book itself is unthumbed. Perhaps Sibbald had another reading copy? It seems inconceivable that it was an unwanted gift. According to Summers, The Dark Woman was issued in 104 weekly parts at a halfpenny each; in monthly parts at threepence (which seems dear) and as two volumes supplied with titles and contents on completion - as here. All are made up of the weekly parts. One of Rymer's later novels, well after his successes of the forties like The Black Monk or Varney the Vampyre, but Rymer never ran short of thrilling deeds - dastardly, dare-devil or gruesome. Any page or two will exhaust the meek reader.

Richard Neylon, BooksellerProfessional seller

Book number: 8023

Keywords: literature fiction thrillers penny dreadful horror c19th England