Lot 13. BUNZO, Maekawa & JUNZO, Sakai (compilers).

The narrative of Hatsutaro, a Japanese sailor, who with 12 other crew, was rescued from their coastal vessel in mid-ocean by a Spanish ship in 1841 and taken to Baja California. The vividly coloured woodcuts illustrate the life and people of Baja California and the work appears to have been one of the most popular early accounts of the United States and Mexico, published in the year following Commodore Perry’s arrival, at which point the centuries-long isolation of Japan came to an end.

5 vols in 2 books, large 8vo (25 x 17.5 cm), [26], [20], [21], [18], [15] leaves, including a double page woodblock hand coloured map showing East Asia, North Pacific and North America, woodcut title vignette and thirty-nine hand coloured woodblock illustrations (thirteen double page). Original stitched wrappers, well preserved in blue cloth chemise.