Autograph letter signed ("Ric. Cock").
Published by Hirado, Japan, 1 Jan. 1617.
- Hardcover
- Manuscript / Paper Collectible
- Used
Seller: Antiquariat INLIBRIS Gilhofer Nfg. GmbH, Vienna, A, AustriaAntiquariat INLIBRIS Gilhofer Nfg. GmbH
AbeBooks seller since November 22, 2000
Condition: Used
£ 65,386.89
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Folio (370 x 240 mm). 5 pp. Headed "Firando [Hirado] in Japon le 1th [!] of January 1618 [but: 1617]"; addressed on verso of the third leaf to Sir Thomas Wilson, with the recipient’s endorsement. Housed in a quarter morocco clamshell box, lettered in gilt. An English merchant’s impressions of early 17th-century Edo, sent to his patron Sir Thomas Wilson: an unpublished and content-rich Japan letter by Richard Cocks, chief factor of the English East India Company at Hirado, with a vivid eyewitness account of Tokyo at the beginning of Tokugawa consolidation. This is one of only three surviving letters known to have been sent by Cocks to Wilson from Japan, and remains the only one apparently unpublished. - Writing from Hirado north of Nagasaki, Cocks reports on his first visit to Edo in 1616 and describes the court of the new shogun Hidetada, son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, in terms designed to convey both the scale of the city and the political discipline of the new regime. His most memorable observation, that Edo would become "one of the greatest Citties in the world", lends the letter unusual documentary force as an early English response to the emerging metropolis that would become Tokyo. - The letter also stages the English factory’s role within the first, brief phase of direct Anglo-Japanese commercial relations. Appointed chief factor in 1613 after the arrival of John Saris, Cocks stood at the centre of the Company's attempts to build a trade through Hirado, Osaka, Miyako and Edo, while relying on the mediation and local knowledge of William Adams and other intermediaries. - As a document, the letter reaches beyond mercantile routine: in contrast to Cocks's formal business correspondence with the Company, it reports geography, architecture, court ceremonial and political order for an informed English patron at home, converting commercial intelligence into a broader account of Japan for a metropolitan readership. Composed at a moment when English knowledge of Japan was still exceptionally thin, the letter belongs to the earliest stratum of secular English observation of Tokugawa Japan. - Original folds; relined with conservation backing. Small tears and wear at the edges, partially affecting words in 13 lines on the second leaf and in 15 lines on the third leaf; tiny perforation at the centre of the main fold on the third leaf restored; expertly strengthened at the margins. In very good overall condition. - 1) Sir Thomas Wilson (1560?-1629), Keeper of the Records at Whitehall since 1606, recipient, with his endorsement on verso. - 2) Lionel, 1st Baron Cranfield and Earl of Middlesex (1575-1645), Lord Treasurer; thence by descent through the Sackville family of Knole (Kent). - 3) Christie’s, London, 16 Nov 2005, lot 159. - 4) Nicholas "Nick" Ingleton (1941-2024), British-Australian collector and bibliophile based for much of his career in Tokyo. - Cf. N. Murakami & K. Murakawa (eds.), Letters written by the English residents in Japan, 1611-1623 (Tokyo, 1900). D. Massarella, "James I and Japan", Monumenta Nipponica 38:4 (1983), pp. 373-386.…
Seller Inventory # 68972
Bibliographic details
- Title
- Autograph letter signed ("Ric. Cock").
- Author
- Cocks, Richard, merchant (1565?-1624), head of the British East India Company factory at Hirado.
- Publisher
- Hirado, Japan, 1 Jan. 1617.
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Item weight
- 1,000 grams
- Seller catalogs
- Autographs: History
Shipping rates from Austria to U.S.A.
| Item | 2 to 5 business days | 1 to 3 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 25.39 | £ 33.86 |
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- Bank Wire Transfer
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- Invoice
Store description
We have been dealing in valuable books, manuscripts, and autographs since 1883. As members of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), the Verband der Antiquare Österreichs (Austrian association of antiquarian booksellers), as well as the Verband deutscher Antiquare e.V. (German association of antiquarian booksellers), we are bound by these organizations' code of ethics. A large proportion of our customers is made up of institutions, including renowned international universities and major state libraries. We keep contact with our private customers at international book fairs and through our online catalogues. You are welcome to visit us on our business premises from Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM. We are happy to take buying orders for the important book auctions in Germany and Austria, which we attend regularly. We dedicate special attention to the estates and archives of important personalities of the arts and sciences in European and world history. Through specially prepared archive catalogues we have been able to sell the archives of Viktor Léon (librettist, 1859-1940), Leo Fall (operetta composer, 1873-1925), Lotte Lehmann (singer, 1888-1976), Otto Tressler (actor, 1871-1865) and Max Reinhardt (director, 1873-1743), as well as the last privately owned important original manuscripts by Ludwig Wittgenstein (philosopher, 1889-1951). Along the lines of this specialization our buying policy concentrates especially on these fields.…
Specialty
Alte Drucke, Cinquencentine, Autographs, Incunabula, Estates and archives of important personalities, Early science, History, Early printing, ManuscriptsAssociation member
Seller's business information
Inlibris, Handelsgesellschaft für antiquarische Bücher und Drucke GmbH
Rathausstrasse 19/27
Wien, Austria 1010
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