Jikamura Wasuke (2 results)

Ten parts in 3 volumes. First edition, the text in English for global distribution. Illustrated throughout with a vast number, indeed many hundreds of chromo-lithographs, coloured maps, charts, finely coloured plates, full-page photographs, colotypes and textual illustrations, mostly full-page and some double-page, with extraordinarily fine colour printing throughout including highlighting in silver and gold. Thick, Royal 8vo, publisher's bindings of three quarter morocco over cloth covered boards, the spine fully decorated with gilt roll tooling dividing the compartments, lettering in gilt, central ornamental devices gilt. vi, 424; ii, 425-848; ii, 849-1418 pp. A very good set indeed, the bindings strong, the text in pleasing condition with only occasional notes of wear, the many coloured plates very well preserved, some tissue guards with old evidence of damp not affecting the plates or text and probably from damp prior to binding, a pleasing set in well preserved condition. FIRST EDITION, BOUND FROM THE ORIGINAL PARTS, REPLETE WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MANY VERY FINELY COLOURED AND HIGHLIGHTED IN SILVER AND GOLD. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, which began with the Japanese naval attack on Port Arthur, had repercussions throughout the world. Germany had helped to nudge both powers towards the war and had also managed to alienate both belligerents. She had used tremendous diplomatic pressure against the Japanese to force them to relinquish Port Arthur to the Chinese, who then leased it to the Russians. Simultaneously the newly emerged nation of Japan was training its army officers in Germany. German involvement in the conflict led to war scares with both France and Great Britain, causing Germany to quickly arrange an unwanted international conference at which they found themselves distrusted and isolated. The war ended with the Treaty of Portsmouth, arranged by U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt. The Russo-Japanese War won for the U.S. a place at the table of superpowers and a new respect in world diplomacy, but for Germany it earned nothing but suspicion. In August 1905 the future chief of the general staff, Helmuth von Moltke, noted in his diary that "all the other nations are pretty well united in reviling Germany. They all assert that we are disturbing the peace."' Even Baron Friedrich von Holstein, the chief architect of foreign policy from 1890 to 1906, admitted the bankruptcy of German diplomacy. "In short," he wrote to a friend, "in the present atmosphere, it seems to me that the correct and dignified thing to do would be to act like Russia after the Crimean War and calmly to withdraw into ourselves.".

10 parts in 3 vols., roy. 8vo., First Edition, text in English, with very numerous fine chromolithographed and tinted plates (original tissue guards present where called for), many large folding maps on japon, some hundreds of monochrome photographs (a number full-page), and maps in the text; original terracotta cloth, backs lettered and tooled in gilt, red sprinkled edges, ORIGINAL WRAPPERS PRESERVED, expertly rebacked with old backstrips laid down, a remarkably bright, crisp, clean set. This magnificent record of one of the earliest major international conflicts of the twentieth century is remarkable on several counts. In essence an early partwork, it was compiled and issued whilst the war was still in progress, enabling its readers to follow the course and consequences of the fighting in a manner previously unparalleled. Certainly it is unique is the comprehensiveness and detail of its coverage, and in the variety and extent of its illustrations, the two together constituting a truly massive documentary resource. COMPLETE SETS OF THIS NOTABLE WORK ARE RARE, THE MORE SO IN ORIGINAL CLOTH IN THIS CONDITION. Wenckstern II,140.