The Unfurling Scroll: Books and Manuscripts of Asia
In East Asia, the scroll is a metaphor for history, refinement, and craft, offering a visual and literary experience unlike any other. The reader embarks on a continuous journey, gradually progressing without knowing what comes next. This catalogue explores a rich history through milestones in politics and philosophy, the writings of those who chased adventure, and literary and artistic landmarks.
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BUDDHISM. A fragment of the Kegon-kyo ("The Flower Ornament Sutra"), vol. 35, rescued from the Senpuku-ji temple fire.[Kawachi Province : c.12th century]
An exceptional example of late Heian-period sutra production, bearing the telltale burn marks from when flames engulfed the temple where it was stored. "The accidental incineration [is] a reminder of the transience of all material phenomena, and fragments... are cherished by collectors and connoisseurs of calligraphy" (Carpenter, p. 20). Only the... Learn More -
BUDDHISM. A scroll from the Jingoji Tripitaka;[Japan : 1150-1185]
A bright and shining example of a late-Heian period sutra, stored for 800 years in Jingoji Temple, Kyoto. The complete set was commissioned by Emperors Toba and Go Shirakawa from 1150 to 1185, exemplifying the highest standard of craftsmanship available at the time. Other examples have been named Important Cultural Properties in Japan.
The... Learn More -
BUDDHISM. Saddharmasmrtyupasthanasutra ("Sutra of Right Mindfulness").Huzhou : [c.1250]
A surviving fascicle from a famous early Chinese edition of the Buddhist canon, printed during the Song dynasty at the Yuanjue (later Zifu) temple in Huzhou. The respect given to Buddhist texts has ensured the institutional survival of a couple of near-complete Yuanjue sets, but any examples of Chinese printing of this age are exceptionally scarce... Learn More -
POLO, Marco. Libro de las cosas maravillosas que vido en las partes orientales:Logroño : 1529
Third edition in Spanish, the earliest feasibly obtainable in that language, of the book that gave European readers the first extensive and coherent description of China in a Western language. No comparable direct information about China reached Europe until the Portuguese voyages and Jesuit missions of the 16th century.
Marco Polo... Learn More -
GUALTIERI, Guido. Relationi della venuta degli ambasciatori giaponesi a Roma fino alla partita di Lisbona.Rome : 1586
First edition of the most complete and detailed early account of the first Japanese travellers to Rome. The goal of the embassy, organized by the Jesuit Alessandro Valignano, was to introduce the Japanese envoys to Pope Gregory XIII, thereby strengthening the Jesuit mission in Japan and recruiting more support for it in Europe. The envoys spent... Learn More -
FUJIWARA, no Teika. Manuscript copy of the Ise Monogatari ("Tale of Ise").[Japan : 17th century]
An early Edo-period manuscript copy of one of Japan's defining pieces of poetic literature. This example was clearly commissioned by a wealthy patron, with accomplished calligraphy on karakami paper printed with vibrant, shimmering designs in blue, red, green, and yellow.
The Ise Monogatari follows the adventures of Ariwara no Narihira in... Learn More -
RIFLE SHOOTING IN JAPAN. An early hand-painted manuscript of Inatomi-ryu shooting techniques.[Japan : mid-17th century]
A stunning example of mid-17th century luxury manuscript production. The techniques, passed down as secret knowledge, show how to shoot birds in flight, fish in the water, herons from a boat, and deer on the run. The high quality suggests it was probably commissioned as a decorative work rather than a textbook.
Matchlock firearms were... Learn More -
POETRY AND CALLIGRAPHY. Omi hakkei ("The Eight Views of Omi").[Japan : early 18th century]
A well-preserved album of calligraphy and illustrations of "The Eight Views of Omi", vistas overlooking the south of Lake Biwa that became popular in art, literature, and poetry. The accomplished calligraphy is of an early-mid Edo period style and is brushed on vibrant shikishi ("decorative boards").
The calligraphy in this album is not... Learn More -
CHINA TRADE. Account of the Money, Weights, and Measures, at the Principal Settlements in the East-Indies.London : 1775
An otherwise untraced pocket reference for supercargos, with alphabetically arranged sections for major destinations along eastern trade routes, including China, Medina, Mecca, Bengal, Bombay, and Batavia. The final page concerns Japan, evidence of British commercial dealings with the Dutch East India Company.
Pages 19-24 concern the... Learn More -
JOHNSON, James. The Oriental Voyager; or, Descriptive Sketches and Cursory Remarks, on a Voyage to India and China, in His Majesty's Ship Caroline, Performed in the Years 1803-4-5-6.London : 1807
First edition of this narrative rich in detail on the waterways, sea traffic, and maritime commerce of India and China. The author (1777-1845) was surgeon aboard the Caroline, a 36-gun frigate sent in 1803 to serve on the East Indies station.
The work covers the years 1803-1805, when the ship sailed from Cork to Canton and around Asia.... Learn More -
THOMS, Peter Perring. Chinese Courtship. In Verse.London : 1824
First edition of this culturally significant Macao imprint, the first translation of a Cantonese literary work into English. Shipped from China on an East India Company vessel, copies of Thoms's translation spread from London across Europe and found an enthusiastic audience: in 1827, the 77-year-old Goethe spent almost half a year poring over the... Learn More -
DIVINATION. Weather divination manuscript.Japan : [early 19th century]
A guide to interpreting cloud shapes to discover the outcome of battle, passed down as secret knowledge between military strategists. Clouds reveal when and when not to attack, enemy movements, and treacherous allies.
One of the techniques reads, "If you see a black cloud rising above yellow clouds that means the enemy is approaching,... Learn More -
HOKUSAI. Ehon chukyo ("The Illustrated Classic of Loyalty").Edo : 1834
First edition of this primer on the Classic of Loyalty (ch. Zhongjing), illustrated with exemplars of virtue. Hokusai's expressive style and rendering of Chinese figures is on full display, prepared in the same period as he was creating The Great Wave.
The Classic is a Confucian treatise attributed to the Later Han scholar Ma Rong, although... Learn More -
CANTON REGISTER. A substantial run of volumes I, III-IV, and VI-VIII.Canton : 1827-35
The largest collection of this pioneering newspaper to be brought to market in recent decades, including an almost entirely complete run of Volume I, which lacks only a single supplement. In the last thirty years, only one other run of issues (volumes II-III only) has appeared in commerce; the last sizeable collection that we have traced was... Learn More -
FIRST OPIUM WAR. Crisis in the Opium Traffic: Being an Account of the Proceedings of the Chinese Government to Suppress the Trade, with the Notices, Edicts, &c. Relating Thereto.[Macau] : 1839
First edition in book form, published in Macau during the tense summer of 1839, when British and Chinese officials were locked in a standoff and struggle of wills. This narrative selection of documents and letters begins with a translation of Lin Zexu's 18 March edict, which ordered foreign merchants to surrender their opium, and ends with letters... Learn More -
TEA TRADE. Copy of Papers Received from India Relating to the Measures Adopted for Introducing the Cultivation of the Tea Plant Within the British Possessions in India.[Likely London] : 1839
First edition, covering material submitted by East India Company representatives between 1834 and 1838 - a crucial period during which Britain laid the foundations of its tea empire in Assam. The splendid maps incorporate the findings of explorers such as Captain Francis Jenkins and the observations of tea-growing made in China by the Macartney... Learn More -
NEWBOLD, Thomas John. Political and Statistical Account of the British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca, viz. Pinang, Malacca, and Singapore;London : 1839
First edition, presentation copy, inscribed "from the author" on the half-title of Volume I. Both pastedowns are signed by William Stonehewer Newbold (1802-1871), the author's brother.
Thomas John Newbold (1807-1850) was an army officer and scholar who served his entire career in Asia. In 1828, he was commissioned ensign in the 23rd... Learn More -
FIRST OPIUM WAR. Collection of 40 letters and notes sent to Anne Noble during her imprisonment in Ningbo.1841
A moving and historically significant record of companionship in confinement, Anne Noble being one of the few Western women to see the interior of China before the opening of the treaty ports. These notes, sent surreptitiously by two British officers detained in nearby cells, are the most important surviving artefacts of her extraordinary... Learn More -
CHINESE MEDICINE. Woodblock for a print advertising Qingxin soup, "A Medicine for Madness and Mental Disturbance".[Yokkaichi : mid-19th century]
A well-preserved woodblock used to print an advertising sheet for Seishinto (Qingxin soup), a popular herbal remedy for stress relief. The medicine was sold by Fujisawa Masauke, a resident of Komaki Village in Yokkaichi (near Nagoya), one of the last stations on the Tokaido highway between Edo and Kyoto. We have traced no surviving copies of the... Learn More -
HONG KONG. Names of the Principal Officers and Official Gentlemen Who Are Represented in the Engraving of the Signing and Sealing of the Treaty of Nanking in the State Cabin of H.M.S. Cornwallis, 29th August 1842.London : [c. 1846]
The key plate for Captain John Platt's influential depiction of the signing of the Treaty of Nanking, the agreement that brought an end to the First Opium War and ceded Hong Kong to the British. Platt's pencil projected imperial confidence at the dawn of a new era in Sino-British relations.
Platt (1802-1857) served with the Bengal... Learn More
