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Stock# 88337
Description

Rare first separately published edition of Commordore Matthew C. Perry's report  on the U.S Navy's survey of the waters off the Coast of Japan, China, the Philippines, etc.

The report includes a massive map, compiled during the Perry Expedition of 1853-54.

This important American survey was conducted during a diplomatic and military expedition of the U.S. Navy under the command of Commodore M.C. Perry (1794-1858). Known as the Perry Expedition, President Millard Fillmore ordered Perry to sail to the Tokugawa Shogunate to establish improved diplomatic and trade relations with Japan and surrounding nations, ending Japan's isolationist foreign policy.

Written by Lieutenants William Lewis Maury (1813-1878) and Silas Bent (1820-1887), the report includes 18 pages of "Sailing Directions and Nautical Remarks", and ends with a facsmile in Japanese of the treaty between Japan and the United States of America, attempting to establish peace, amity and a trade agreement between the two nations, followed by the English text.

Perry first published this short report for the benefit of mariners in the previous year at the end of volume II of the three-volume history of the expedition, written by F.L. Hawks, Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China Seas and Japan (1856). They wrote it under the supervision of Perry himself, who funded the publication with the money he received as a reward from the U.S. government for his work in Japan.

Rarity

This imprint is rare. It has only appeared at auction once in the last 45 years (other than this example).

Condition Description
Later quarter morocco over original marbled boards and printed front-cover label.
Reference
Cordier Japonica 513; Sabin 30967 (both for the 1856 Narrative); about Silas Bent: Dictionary of American naval fighting ships, vol. 6, p. 505; The United States in Asia: a historical dictionary, p. 41. Seller Inventory # ABC_46286
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