PASKE-SMITH, Montague [preface and editor]. England and Japan. The First known Account of Japan in English extracted from the "History of Travayle". Kobe, J. L. Thompson & Co. (Retail) Ltd., 1928.
8vo. Original full calf, front cover lettered in gilt, boards with ornamemntal fillets; pp. 69, facsimile text and two illustrations; wear and scratching to binding, internally very good.
~b~Rare first facsimile edition the chapter by Richard Willes entitled: Of the Ilande Giapan and Other Litle Isles in the East Ocean from Richard Eden's The History of Travayle. 'The history of travayle offered a substantial revision of Richard Eden’s edition of The decades of the newe worlde. Willes added new material on Asia, most of which was derived from continental sources, and translated accounts of China and Japan that were previously unpublished in English. Richard Hakluyt used this and other material in the Principal Navigations. Willes balances admiration for the civility and industriousness of Asian cultures with a condemnation of Eastern religious practices' (springer.com).
Provenance: Presentation copy inscribed by Paske-Smith to the sub-librarian of Chichester Cathedral Probendary Teedale, who had provided The History of Travayle for reproduction. Montague Paske-Smith was British Consul in Osaka, and wrote a couple of books on Western-Japanese relations.
#2121375