ATLAS JAPANNENSIS: BEING REMARKABLE ADDRESSES BY WAY OF EMBASSY FROM THE EAST-IN

London 1670, Johnson. Full tooled new leather saving the old leather, 4 double, 71 half page, 1 full page copper etched 24 double, 71 half page, 1 full page copper etched plates, folding map, 488p., 27.5 x 42.5 cm. bright copy.VERY R A R E *** *** *** . . TRULY A GREAT & EARLY FOLIO WITH PROFUSE ENGRAVINGS . . ONE OF THE EARLIEST BOOKS ON JAPAN IN ENGLISH . . A MONUMENTAL, HISTORIC AND IMPORTANT EARLY RESOURCE . . . SUBTITLE continued: Their Religions, Laws, and Customs, Prodigious Wealth & Gorgeous Habits, the Nature of Their Soil, Plants, Beasts, Hills, Rivers & Fountains With the Character of the Ancient & Modern Japanners. Collected Out of Their Several Writings and Journals by Arnoldus Montanus. English'd and Adorn'd With Above a Hundred Several Sculptures by John Ogilby, Esq; Master of His Majesties Revels in the Kingdom of Ireland. * A NOTE ABOUT THE "Old English" Spelling: This and other works of this period were commonly written in "Olde English," where the F = S ergo below spellings above taken exactly as on title page. Text also commonly has same spellings. . * * * * * * . AN HISTORIC AND IMPORTANT WORK ON JAPAN: . A truly great and possibly the first major monograph & book devoted strictly to Japan. The copper engraved plates to this large folio work represent a high-water mark in book illustrations of the 17th century. With most astute observations from actual Japanese views graphically reproduced in the classic Western-European copper engraving style. *** FOLIO This work is the most grand and a Deluxe very early if not the first major English language resource on Japan. It predates most other English sources, being a remarkable FIRST work on Japan, hitherto an isolated and unknown country in the English, Western & European worlds. It brought much needed information about this long "closed country" [Sakoku] to those would be potential trading partners. The most coveted of the "big books" dedicated with a full sub-title page to Prince Charles II. Lavishly illustrated with many full, double-folding and four-page single large & folding plates. The book size is 28 x 43 cm. . Finely printed letterpress title page in black and red ink. *** The work is complete, the first part from pages 1-312; followed by "A SECOND AND LATER DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN" from pages 313-488. **** RARE ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDITION: This is a major early antiquarian resource on Japan. This work covers the primary observations and writings of two Dutch missions to Nagasaki in 1649 and 1661. . The pantheon of such superb and early primary resources are quite small. Due in fact because Japan had closed herself to the outside world, fearing that it too would be broken up into foreign-controlled pieces like China. Therefore Japan closed her doors to all Western visitors & commerce. The two brief exceptions were the Portuguese in 1549 who were allowed a small foothold on Hirado [Firado] Island in Southern Japan, and the Dutch who in 1604 were allowed to stay on a tiny island in Nagasaki harbor called Deshima. This island had a small causeway connecting it to the Nagasaki mainland, that was gated and controlled by the Shogun. * The Dutch were allowed a small amount of visiting commerce ships which traded under the Dutch East India Company auspices. The Dutch were allowed "special Japanese prostitutes" as companions, but there were not allowed to come and go off Deshima Island at will. Once a year, a person was designated by the Shogun to travel under guard to journey overland to Edo [old Tokyo] to have an audience with the Shogun. Englebert Kaempfer a Dutch doctor was one of those who went to see the Shogun and wrote a superb book published in 1727 on Japan and his life there. Check with us as we may have a copy in stock. . The current work by Montanus precedes Kaempfer's historic work by some fifty-eight years. *** FIRST AND ONLY ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDITION: The First Edition of Montanus was in Dutch. The English edition is by far the most.…