Condition. The book is in Very Good condition. The front hinges (outside and inside) are lightly cracked. The binding is strong. The head and foot of the spine are soft and frayed. The corners bumped and scraped. Internally the book is clean. There is text foxing on the pages adjacent to the plates. Aside from that the text is clean and bright with no foxing, toning or staining. The illustrations are clean and free of faults.

 
Baeckstrom, Anton:
Ett Besok i Japan Och Kina jemte bilder fran vagen dit ofver Goda-Hoppsudden, Bourbon, Nya Kaledonien, Manilla och Kokinkina, Anteckningar och minnen fran en trearig tjenstgoring i franska flottan af Anton Baeckstrom. Mit 63 illustrationer i stentryck och trasnitt, Stockholm, Alb. Bonniers Boktryckeri, 1871, Swedish text, 8vo (6 x 9  - 15 x 22.7 cm), half title page and full title page, dark blue blindstamped cloth with gilt decoration and lettering on the front cover and spine, a black and white engraved frontispiece plus 62 illustrations which include 8 tinted lithograph plates, 15 black and white wood engraved plates, 39 black and white wood engraved text illustrations, 391 pp. The book is an account of the French Far East Expedition (1867-70) which the author accompanied. The expedition called in New Caledonia, Manila, Cochinchina (Indo-china/Vietnam), Japan, China and Singapore. The Japanese portion of the narrative accounts for more than one half of the book (pages 177-384). There is a discussion of the US Expedition to Japan under Commodore Perry and the events that followed (pages 322-40). The illustrations in this section (Perry Expedition) are drawn for the work of Wilhelm Heine, an artist accompanying the US expedition of 1853-4. One text illustration which depicts the Shurei-mon (Gate of Courtesy), in Shuri, Okinawa, is a reproduction of a lithograph in the narrative of the American Expedition.

The eight tinted lithographs have views of Manila, Cochinchina [Kokin-Kina] (2), Japan (4) and Singapore. The Japan view of Nagasaki shows the Dutch Factory/Concession at Deshima. The lithographs are by "Schlachter & Seedorff, Stockh."

The title page states 63 illustrations. The listing of illustrations in the book details 63 illustrations but this does not include the frontispiece. "Kinesisk sanppan" is listed as on page 262 but there is no illustration on that page. The illustration that carries that title is the frontisplate. When the frontispiece is included, the book does contain 63 illustrations as noted on the title page.

 
Frontispiece

Title Page

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Tinted Lithographs

Manilla


Kokin-Kina


Kokin-Kina


Japan


Japan


Japan


Japan


Singapoor