Titles beginning with D from Daniel / Oliver Gallery (3 items)

26 manuscript sheets Sheets each 8 x 10 inchesEach sheet embossed with congressional watermark.
Manuscript draft of a seminally-important letter written by Mori Arinori to Yale professor William Dwight Whitney, asking for his advice on adopting English as Japan's national language. The letter was penned in Washington D.C. in 1872, during Arinori's tenure as Japan's first ambassador to the U.S. Also included is a second draft marked "copy" and a copy of Whitney's reply.A complicated and fascinating figure, one of Arinori's most memorable causes was his attempt to replace Japanese with English as the national language. In 1872, when he was the ambassador to the United States, he wrote this letter to the linguist William D. Whitney, proposing the change and asking for Whitney's assistance in the endeavor. In the letter, Arinori argues that Japanese is insufficient to handle the growing needs of the Japanese Empire because it is not considered an international language. Japanese, he believes, is limited… Read more

Silver print; printed 1970s 10 1/2 x 10 3/8 inches; sheet 11 x 14 inchesWith a Library of Congress hand stamp and numeric notations verso.

Color lithograph on green paper; 13 1/2 x 8 inches
Dual-language broadside advertising the Greek magician Professor Avdalas. It is printed in Greek and English and advertises a show at the Majestic Theatre in Fresno, Ca, in 1922.Playing off early-20th century preoccupations with Oriental themes (which was a confusion of Egyptian, Arabic and India tales and popular culture stereotypes) Avdalas' individual tricks, within his overall act, included the Cremation, the French Spy, The Human Suspension Bridge, The Rajahs Enchanted Chest "and fifty other new and baffling effects." He always closed his performance with his most renowned illusion, the fabled "Talking Tea Kettle."Though he performed in English, this poster was presumably printed for Fresno's Greek community. Greeks came to the city in the early 20th century. By the 1910s there was a little Greek business district on Fresno's west side.There is a tear in the middle which has been repaired with archival tape.