HEINE, Wilhelm (1827-1885)
Graphic Scenes of the Japan Expedition
New York: GP Putnam & Company, 1856. Folio. (20 1/4 x 14 1/2 inches). 12 ff. letterpress text. 10 lithographic prints (one tinted portrait of Perry from a daguerreotype by P. Haas, nine hand finished views by Heine [two of these chromolithographed, seven printed in two colours on india paper mounted]), all printed by Sarony & Co.
20th-century maroon half morocco over paper-covered boards, titled in gilt on spine, original wrappers bound in
An important work recording Commodore Perry's expedition to Japan.
William Heine was the official artist on Commodore Matthew C. Perry's expedition to Japan in 1853-54. On returning to the United States he produced several series of prints commemorating the trip. A group of six elephant-folio prints appeared in 1855, and the following year the present volume was issued, in a smaller format, with different images and with explanatory text. Both projects employed the New York lithographic firm of Sarony, among the best lithographers in the United States at that time. "As artistic productions, the pictures speak for themselves ... none superior to them have been executed in the United States, and they have no cause to shun comparison with some of the best productions of Europe" (Introduction). Copies were produced tinted on regular paper as in the present copy and hand-coloured. The plates are numbered and titled as follows [1. portrait of Perry]; 2. Macao from Penha Hill; 3. Whampoa Pagoda; 4. Old China Street, Canton; 5. Kung-kwa at On-na, Lew-Chew; 6. Mia or road side chapel at Yokuhama; 7. Temple of Ben-teng in the harbor of Simoda; 8. Street and bridge at Simoda; 9. Temple of the Ha-tshu Man-ya-tshu-ro at Simoda; 10. Grave yard at Simoda Dio Zenge. Bennett describes the plates as "many times finer than those in the regular account of the Perry expedition." His remarks on the work's great rarity are confirmed by its absence from both of Cordier's Japanese bibliographies.
Bennett, p.53; McGrath American Color Plate Books 123.
Item #20647
Price: $20,000.00