Search Results: TRAVEL & EXPLORATION from Downtown Brown Books, ABAA

Osaka: Okashima Shoten, 1903. First Edition. Trade paperback. Good. A rare guide to coming to America published during the brief window during the first years of the 20th century when it was legal for Japanese citizens to emigrate to the United States, before the 1907 Gentlemen's Agreement made the process much more difficult. Still, this book reflects the tenor of the times. In the section on clearing immigration on arrival in the US, one of the role-play examples (in English) is "Q: Are you an anarchist or not? A. Not at all." (p. 98). "A guide to America for students which compliments [Seinen no to-Bei (America-bound Youth)] by the same author. Discusses passport procedures, the passage, arrival formalities and provides information on being a 'school boy', matriculation problems, and the American educational system"-A Buried Past, 132. The author of this book was the first ordained Japanese episcopal priest and the founder of the church's Japanese mission in San Francisco. Yoshimura was an… Read More

Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1903. A guide to America which provides general information as well as specific facts on the American educational system, matriculation requirements, and curricula, especially of colleges and universities. The appendix consists of a list of selected American colleges and universities."-A Buried Past, 113. The author may be Rippo Eitaro Iijima, a 1904 Master's graduate of the University of Southern California, who co-founded Rafu Shimpo, the Los Angeles Japanese Daily News, the largest Japanese American newspaper. A USC student named Iijima definitely started the newspaper with two other students in April 1903. He first name is variously given as Rippo or Eitaro, depending on the source. The 1904 Circular of Information for USC gives his name as Rippo Eitaro Iijima. The book includes a one-page introduction in English; a fold-out outline map of the United States showing state borders, eight halftone plates of universities, and nine pages of publisher's ads. [10], 3, [1], [8… Read More

London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1881. First Edition. Hardcover. Good. viii, 512, 21 pages. 8 by 10-1/2 inches. Includes reports of the British expeditions of the Hawaiian (Sandwich) Islands (pp. 1 to 256); Egypt (pp. 257 to 346); Rodriguez Island (now Rodrigues; pp. 347 to 400); Kerguelen Island (Desolation Islands; pp. 401 to 480); and New Zealand (pp. 481 to 512). Illustrated with a few plates, but mostly filled with tables of data. Rbound in modern buckram. Some chipping and wear to preliminary pages, else very good.

Rio de Janeiro: Pimenta de Mello & C., 1920. First Edition. Very good. An attractive promotional book illustrated with more than fifty views of Rio de Janeiro and the surrounding countryside printed in duotone; each image is faced with a decorative ad page for a Rio-based business. The album presents a very interesting snapshot of the commercial culture of Brazil's primary city early in the 20th century. [blank leaf], [2], 105, [1] pages. 11 by 7-1/4 inches (oblong). OCLC: 221778313 (one copy, in Australia). First edition (first printing). String-tied embossed wrappers. Yapped edges somewhat bent and worn, as expected, else a very good or better example of a scarce book.

London: Field and Tuer and Simpkin, Marshall & Co, 1885. First Edition. Very good. Scottish-South African explorer Archibald Colquhoun "traversed through the unknown lands of western China and scampered along the jungle-covered middle stretches of the Mekong River. When he returned to London he lectured widely and wrote... Burma and the Burmans... He had one message: All that stood in the way of a revival of British commerce and industry, all that kept the working people of Birmingham and Leeds from a better future, was the despotic king of Burma. Remove the king, and Burma would become Britain's best friend. And from Burma, the riches of China, and all that meant for British commerce and industry, would be there for the asking."-Thant Myint-U, The River of Lost Footsteps: Histories of Burma, p. 8. Myint-U credits Colquhoun, at least in part, with influencing the decision of Randolph Churchill (father of Winston), the Secretary of State for India, to invade and annex Burma (now Myanmar) to the… Read More

Tokyo: Hakusuisha, 1921. First Edition. Hardcover. Good. A young Japanese adventurer's account of a six-month trip from Seattle, to northern Canada, through Alaska, and back, chasing the aurora borealis in 1919. At the beginning, he claims scientific credentials, only a spirit of adventure and a desire to wander. He wrote the book during the trip and the introduction (dated 1920) is datelined Seattle. The publisher clearly saw this as an adventure tale and advertised other mystery and adventure novels at the back of the book. Illustrated throughout with poor-quality halftone photographs (typical of Japanese books at the time), and a folding map of Tsukamoto's track. This first edition is not in OCLC (or apparently, the National Diet Library in Japan). OCLC does record the second edition, published in 1943, during the Second World War, under the title Arasuka yori aryushan e [From Alaska to the Aleutian Islands]. In 1942, the Japanese Army invaded the Aleutian Islands, and the US Army retook the… Read More

Washington DC: (n.p.), 1855. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Commodore Perry's correspondance written during his historic two-year expedition to Japan, which led to the opening of the island nation to the West. This is the first publication of Perry's dispatches detailing his observations on Japan at a time when it was very little known in the United States. This collection of Perry's dispatches, with some correspondence from the Pierce and Filmore administrations, is titled in full, "Message of the President of the United States, transmitting a report of the Secretary of the Navy, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate of December 6, 1854, calling for correspondence, &c., relative to the naval expedition to Japan", Senate, 33d Congress, 2d Session, Ex. Doc. No. 34. 195 pages; no plates, as issued. First edition (first printing). Pages somewhat foxed; the original publisher's purple cloth faded at the spine and eroded at the edges and in a few spots on the cover. With the pencilled… Read More

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1911. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good/Good. London's popular account of an ill-fated two-year voyage to the South Pacific in a poorly-built 43-foot sailboat. BAL 11929. 340 pages, plus a color frontispiece. Illustrated with more than 100 half-tone photographs. First edition (first printing, with no later printings indicated). A very good copy with some shelf wear and a bit of spine lean. Front hinge cracking at the bottom inch. With the wolf's head Jack London bookplate from Dawson's Books mounted to the front pastedown and below that, a clipped signature from a Jack London letter. With a previous owner's name on the front free endpaper. This copy includes a price-clipped, mostly-complete dust jacket, held together with Japanese tissue at all the folds. The rear panel has two open tears. Nevertheless, scarce in any jacket and nicely augmented with a signature and a bookplate.

Birmingham: Publishing Offices, 1896. First Edition. Very good. An uncommon account of travel to Australasia. The Scottish author was prominent in the early Christadelphian movement and edited The Christadelphian magazine from 1864 to 1898. This travelogue, which includes much theological commentary, has been published several times in the 20th century; this original edition is uncommon. [4], 202 pages. First edition. Rebound in modern brown cloth WITHOUT the original wrappers (paper covers). Previous owner's name on endpapers and title page; a few marginal tears to the text leaves.

Yokohama: (the author / Tokyo Insatsu Kabushiki Kaisha Yokohama Bunsha), 1900. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. A privately printed version of the diary kept by Otani Kahyoe, the president of the Japan Central Tea Traders' Association. "Mr. Otani visited America and Europe in 1899-1900, when he represented both the Tokyo and Yokohama Chambers of Commerce at the Philadelphia Commercial Convention" (William Harrison Ukers, All About Tea, vol. 2, p. 224). The book provides brief day-by-day accounts of his travels, the scenery, business meetings and dinners he attended, with regular mentions (without much description) of tea shops and tea merchants he visited along the way. Otani was a merchant in Yokohama and worked as "a buyer for Smith, Baker and Co., one of the large Western merchant houses active in the city. Apparently with financial backing from this firm, he became an export merchant himself in 1868, and he rose to become the leading figure in the Yokohama tea export trade by 1890"-Edward… Read More

New York: Viking Press, 1941. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Near fine. A travelog of a trip to Ecuador made on commission from magazines. Illustrated with four double-page color plates by the author (who is probably best known for his Madeline series of picture books). First edition (first printing, with no indication of later printings). A near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. Inscribed by the author-artist, "to Edwin Rakow Ludwig Bemelmans 1941." Rakow was probably the sometime poet of that name.

New York: Viking Press, 1941. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Near fine. The limited edition, featuring an original watercolor, of this travelog of a trip to Ecuador made on commission from magazines. Illustrated with four double-page color plates by the author (who is probably best known for his Madeline series of picture books). There were 175 signed copies of the limited edition. This one is identified on the slipcase and the colophon as the "Publisher's Copy." The illustration is of a bellhop at the Gran Hotel, in Quito. First edition (first printing, with no indication of later printings). A very good or better copy (the red-orange spine is somewhat faded) in a very good slipcase, with some wear at the edges. The illustration in this copy is much finer than most of the limited, which tend to be simple watercolor sketches.

[New York?]: [Best Manufacturing], 1885. Near fine. A stereoview of the Everett Hotel in Jacksonville, Florida. This is no. 1336 in the "B" Series, a vast collection of pirated views issued by an East Coast firm with many locations. This view is a single photograph, almost certainly a copy print of another photographer's work. Near fine. Medium contrast; curved back. The image is badly centered, with the right side wider than the left.

Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1883. First US edition. Hardcover. Very good. Fonseca and Carolino's inadvertent masterpiece has been called many things... "Perhaps the worst foreign phrasebook ever written" ... A book of "miraculous stupidities." "The most ludicrous foreign attempt ever made to teach our language." Most often under the title English as She Is Spoke...the mid-nineteenth-century Portuguese phrasebook has become a minor classic. Yet it is not as a book of instruction intended for those Portuguese who would learn English that it has survived-nay thrived-for the last century and a half, but rather it is as a work of accidental comedy and unintended humor."-George Monteiro. The New Guide to Conversation began as an 1836 French-Portuguese phrasebook by José da Fonseca; in 1855, Pedro Carolino, with only a limited grasp of English, translated the French text to make an English-Portuguese phrase book. In succeeding years, excerpts made the rounds of English-language magazines until… Read More

New York: Viking Press, 1953. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Copy 1 of 151 signed copies illustrated with an original drawing, in this case a portrait of Bemelmans' poodle Little Bit, who accompanied the author-artist and his teenage daughter on the tour of Europe recounted in this comic memoir. 247 pages; illustrated from Bemelmans' line drawings. Bemelmans is best known for his Madeline series of children's picture books, but he wrote many books for adults, all characterized by gentle humor and the artist's knack for telling detail. First edition (first printing). Red cloth spine somewhat faded, else a fine, uncut copy (the pages are still sealed at the top edge) in what may be the original thin unprinted clear plastic jacket. In a scuffed and somewhat soiled slipcase. Scarce in this condition and very desirable with an original watercolor of a poodle bound in.

Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1966. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Volume three only of this series. The contents are "Diary of Sarah White Smith (Mrs. Asa B. Smith); Letters of Asa B. Smith; and Other Documents Relating to the 1838 Reenforcement of the Oregon Mission." Published in the series First White Women Over the Rockies: Diaries, Letters, and Biographical Sketches of the Six Women of the Oregon Mission Who Made the Overland Journey in 1836 and 1838." 332 pages. First edition (first printing). A very good copy with light shelfwear. This copy is inscribed by the editor and is scarce thus.

Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2002. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/Near fine. A memoir of one of the Mercury Seven astronauts, co-written with his daughter. First edition (first printing, with a line of letters ending in A). With light shelf wear, thus a near fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. This copy is inscribed, "For Ashton, Eric, and Tori ____- Kristen C. Stoever / Scott Carpenter." Somewhat uncommon signed by both authors.

Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1906. First Edition. Trade paperback. Good. A scarce and interesting look at a Japanese laborer's view of the possibilities of working in America at the height of Japanese immigration to this country. "Based on the author's 4-year personal experience in America, this book presents facts on labor conditions and wages by skilled versus unskilled, urban versus rural job categories and on the prospects for employment for Japanese workers."-A Buried Past, 120. Kawamura (who shares a name with a well-known Japanese banker) provides one of the most detailed guides to working in the United States published in the Meiji era, just before the Gentlemen's Agreement severely restricted Japanese immigration to the United States. He provides anecdotal and detailed information on dozens of professions and industries in the United States accessible to Japanese immigrants, from work in mines and railroads to farming (with separate entries for dozens of crops) to service jobs in cities. He seems… Read More

Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1906. First Edition. Trade paperback. Very good/Very good. A scarce and interesting look at a Japanese laborer's view of the possibilities of working in America at the height of Japanese immigration to this country. "Based on the author's 4-year personal experience in America, this book presents facts on labor conditions and wages by skilled versus unskilled, urban versus rural job categories and on the prospects for employment for Japanese workers."-A Buried Past, 120. Kawamura (who shares a name with a well-known Japanese banker) provides one of the most detailed guides to working in the United States published in the Meiji era, just before the Gentlemen's Agreement severely restricted Japanese immigration to the United States. He provides anecdotal and detailed information on dozens of professions and industries in the United States accessible to Japanese immigrants, from work in mines and railroads to farming (with separate entries for dozens of crops) to service jobs in… Read More

Kobe, Japan: Beikoku Haken Denkyoshi Jimukyoku [American Board of Missionaries], 1883. First Edition. Good. A Christian missionary provides an illustrated travelog of the Holy Land, Europe, and the United States for Japanese audiences. Gulick, born in Hawaii (1830-1923), was stationed in Japan from 1870 to 1892. In the early 1880s, he made an extended tour of the West, speaking widely on the efforts to convert Japanese to Christianity. This book, apparently only published in Japanese, introduces the West to Japanese converts and potential converts. The book is illustrated with ten engraved or woodblock plates (three folding), plus several in-text illustrations. The most affecting image is block print of an Arab woman, which makes good use of negative space. [2], 8, 131, [1] pages. Not in OCLC. First edition. A good copy, bound in paste paper over boards, with a cloth spine. Text block nearly detached from binding, thus a fair to good copy of a very scarce book.