Perry, Commodore Mathew, C.; Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, Performed in the years 1852, 1853, and 1854, under the command of Commodore M.C. Perry, United States Navy, by order of the government of the United States. Compiled from the original notes and journals of commodore Perry and his officers, at his request, and under his supervision, by Francis L. Hawks. Published by order of the Congress of the United States. Vols. 1 through 3. Ist edition, 1st printing, Washington, 1856. Large quarto, vol. 1. pp. xvii, errata, 547, 90 litho. plates (some colored or tinted) and maps and includes the suppressed "Public Bath at Simoda" plate at p. 408 (not listed in the List of Plates), numerous woodcuts in the text.. Vol. 2, pp. 414 pp with 27 plates (4 uncolored engraved plates, 13 hand colored engraved plates, 4 tinted lithographs and 6 hand colored lithographs. Two fold-out maps in the text and a map folio of 15 fold-out maps (on 14 sheets) at the rear. Vol. 3, pp. xliii, 705, 352 charts.
FREE SHIPPING ON ALL ITEMS

The set is complete and all three volumes are in the original cloth with gilt titles. Volume 1 some scuffing to boards, corners and edges, plates, including plates of nude bath scene are exceptionally bright. Volumes 2 and 3, light scuffing to boards, short archival repairs to first two maps of volume 2, with text and plates exceptionally bright in volume 2 and moderate foxing throughout volume 3. Overall an exceptional set with ALL plates including baths scene present.
FREE SHIPPING ON ALL ITEMS

In 1852 Perry was appointed head of this naval expedition to induce the Japanese government to establish diplomatic relations with the United States. In the following year the Japanese were finally forced to accept a treaty demanding better treatment of shipwrecked seamen and which allowed American ships to dock at two Japanese ports to purchase fuel and supplies. In the opinion of the United States: "The most important result, however, was that the visit contributed to the collapse of the feudal regime and to the modernization of Japan". Perry's expedition led to the end of the isolation of Japan. Up to that time Japan was a closed country for the two and a half centuries of the Tokugawa shogunate. If one was caught leaving the country it was a crime punishable by death. Merchants from China and the Netherlands, the only two countries with trading rights, were confined to a single island in a single port. But then, in 1854, Commodore Perry and his squadron steamed into Yokohama Bay to force Japan open at gunpoint. Within 14 years, the shogunate had been overthrown, the imperial line had been restored and Japan had embarked on a crash program of modernization that would make it, within a single long generation, one of the world's major industrial and military powers. The tinted lithographic plates, color plates, (folding or otherwise) maps, and numerous woodcut illustrations in text are found in the first two volumes. The first volume is a general account of the Expedition with most of the plates. The second volume has several stunning natural history prints and contains material on a variety of subjects including plants, birds, agriculture, geology, etc. The third volume is confined to the "Observations on the Zodiacal Light".