Folio Society Published Works Number 2671
Brinkley, Captain Francis ; Okakura Kakuzo; David Perkins et al - Japan Described and Illustrated by the Japanese
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Brinkley, Captain Francis ; Okakura Kakuzo; David Perkins et al - Japan Described and Illustrated by the Japanese (Published in by The Folio Society in 2012. One of the most opulent pictorial books ever published, Japan captures a vanished world in 259 hand-coloured photographs. Now, for the first time, this landmark work is reproduced in its entirety in two luxurious volumes. Limited to 1,000 copies. Bound in full cloth, blocked in three colours with a design by Neil Gower. Chiyogami endpapers hand-printed in Japan. Gilded on all three page edges. Presented in cloth-bound slipcases. Hand-numbered on a special limitation page. Volume I: 304 pages Volume II: 312 pages. Both volumes measure 16" x 12.5". At the end of the 19th century, a craze for all things Japanese spread over the Western world. After two centuries of self-imposed seclusion, the country had begun to open up to outside eyes, and its art and craftwork were eagerly sought after by collectors and artists. By 1878 'Japonisme' was being described by the writer George Augustus Sala as 'a sort of religion'. Because of its links with the tea trade, Boston, Massachusetts was an epicentre of the movement. In the 1890s, the J. B. Millet Company of Boston embarked upon an extraordinary venture: a complete pictorial record of the country, entitled Japan, Described and Illustrated by the Japanese. Now, for the first time, this landmark photographic work is reproduced in its entirety by The Folio Society. Japan is one of the most opulent photographic books ever produced. Over 250 hand-coloured photographs show buildings and landscapes – Mount Fuji seen from Kashiwabara, cherry blossoms at Koganei, temples, bamboo groves, rice fields and bridges – as well as Japan's inhabitants, including street vendors, calligraphers, lantern-makers, farmers, schoolchildren, geishas and Buddhist monks. There is even a picture of an actor representing a samurai warrior. For curious Westerners, who were already captivated by Japan's art, turning these pages was the next best thing to visiting this mysterious and fascinating country. Japan was often referred to as a 'sealed book': now, for the first time, the book was being opened. To edit Japan, the J. B. Millet company chose Captain Francis Brinkley, an Irish-born soldier who had become an adopted citizen of Japan, even marrying the daughter of a samurai. Brinkley gathered a group of Japanese writers to write a text explaining Japan to Westerners, under headings such as 'The Early Japanese and Their History', 'Creeds and Castes', 'Observances and Pastimes'. Most of these writers are not named, and their text was heavily edited to appeal to a Western audience. The result was a book described in the introduction as 'an ambassador extraordinary sent by the Japanese to the American people'. It remains a fascinating reflection of Japanese–American relations at a pivotal moment in both countries' history, and one of the most remarkable publishing ventures of the 19th century. The creation of these volumes was painstaking and astonishingly labour-intensive. The original photographs, all taken in Japan, were individually printed, washed, fixed, toned, dried, cropped, hand-coloured and pasted onto the page – a process that was repeated thousands of times across the sixteen editions of the book. The photographs were albumen prints created using silver salts suspended in egg white, a more time-consuming process than the gelatine and collodion method that had recently been introduced. This Folio Society limited edition is the first to show all 259 original photographs, together with the text, 10 flower collotypes and 10 art prints, at their actual size. Creating this edition has been a considerable enterprise, involving the selection of the best available prints from two different copies, one of which is in the John Rylands Library in Manchester, and the other acquired at auction by The Folio Society. The binding design is based on that of the 'Emperor' edition of 1897. David Perkins, who has conducted extensive research into Japan at the University of Manchester, has contributed a historical essay reproduced at the back of Volume II. In it, he explores the significance of Japan in the history of relations between Japan and the United States, and pays tribute to 'a book which seems to look simultaneously back and forward, and as such is endlessly fascinating as well as extraordinarily beautiful'. )
