Japan Described and Illustrated by the Japanese Written by Eminent Japanese Authorities and Scholars

Boston: J. B. Millet Company, 1897. Some fraying to ends of spines and occasional small stains to covers; lighting cockling to the photo mounts, lower corners shipped on four pages in vol. 10. Generally a clean and attractive set. 10 volumes, folio (398 x 295 mm). 10 color collotype frontispieces of flowers by Kazumasa Ogawa, 30 hand-colored albumen photographs by Tamamura Kozaburo mounted with printed tissue guards, numerous halftone photographic illustrations. Original silk printed in color and gilt over beveled boards in varying Japanese-inspired motifs, paper labels printed in gold to upper covers, original stab-sewing, uncut and unopened. Library bookplates on pastedowns and small inkstamps on lower margins of first text leaves. Number 11 of 100 sets of the "Memorial edition," describing Japanese history with chapters regarding architecture, cities, festivals, religion, and Japan's relationship with the rest of the world. Tamamura Kozaburo's photographic efforts were monumental. He exported "40,000 photographs of various sizes to the Boston publishing house J. B. Millet. These were required for insertion in the work Japan.... But this was only the first instalment [sic] of what turned out to be an enormous order for more than one million(!) hand-colored albumen photographs. Tamamura used over 350 assistants over several months to help with the printing and coloring" (Bennett, Photography in Japan 1853-1912, p. 202).