Peeps at Japan.

[Yokohama, 1872]. Oblong quarto (230 x 300 mm), half morocco over marbled papered boards (rubbed), upper board with original printed title label ‘Peeps at Japan’, spine lettered in gilt ‘Beato / Peeps at Japan’; original marbled endpapers, containing [20] albumen prints in format 155 x 200 mm, mounted recto only on leaves of lightweight card with borders hand-drawn in ink; all of the photographs are topographical views, each mount with a printed caption label in English accompanied by further manuscript captions in both English and Japanese; all of the prints have excellent tonal range and clarity, and are in fine condition; verso of front free-endpaper with a gift inscription dated at ‘Yokohama, Japan, Oct. 21st 1872’, from a ‘Mrs. Dickinson’ but with the recipient’s name scratched out, plus a similar inscription in Japanese with accompanying English transliterations to facilitate pronunciation; housed in handsome cloth slipcase.

An excellent early Meiji-era album of photographs by the much-travelled Italian-British photographer Felice (Felix) Beato (1832-1909), one of the pioneers of photography in East Asia. Subjects are: Odawarra; Asakusa, Yedo; waterfall, Miyanoshta; San Mai Bash; Miyanoshta; Hata; Immoto; Hakone; Hata; Tonosawa; Ashinoyu; Asakusa, Yedo; Okuyama, Yedo; Ueeno, Yedo; Hakone Lake; Mississippi Bay; Negeshi; Yedo, from Atago yama; Homoco; Shiba, Yedo.