Japan: Photographs 1854-1905 (First Edition, 1979) with Handwritten Japanese Woodblock Art Card & Envelope

Summary:

Edited with historical text by renowned photo-historian Clark Worswick and featuring an insightful introduction by the legendary travel writer Jan Morris, this monumental volume stands as a seminal work on 19th-century Japanese photography. Published in 1979 in conjunction with a landmark exhibition traveling across the United States, the book provides a comprehensive visual record of Japan during the late Edo (Bakumatsu) and Meiji periods (1854–1905). It meticulously showcases stunning albumen prints by pioneering masters including Felice Beato, Kusakabe Kimbei, Ogawa Kazumasa, and Adolfo Farsari, capturing an empire in transition—from samurai warriors and Buddhist priests to traditional teahouses and sacred shrines.

Background & Significance:

Following the opening of Japan in the mid-19th century, early photography became a powerful medium through which the West encountered the enigmatic island nation. The images in this book represent some of the earliest and rarest surviving visual documents of Meiji-era society, costume, and landscape, making it an indispensable resource for both photo historians and Japanologists.

Distinguished Provenance from a Renowned Art Collector and Patron:

This copy boasts an exceptional provenance from the private library of Mrs. Justine Lewis Keidel, a prominent American art collector and long-serving trustee and patron of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA). Tucked inside the volume is a highly desirable piece of history: an original vintage envelope addressed in ink to "Mrs. Keidel," containing a beautifully printed Japanese winter pagoda card with a warm holiday greeting signed by a family friend, "Bob."

As a collector with a deep connoisseurship of Asian art and heritage—a passion shared across generations, including by her son, the noted East Asian development economist Dr. Albert Keidel—Mrs. Keidel's acquisition of this text serves as a major endorsement of its scholarly and aesthetic value. This delightful association copy enhances the narrative charm, creating a sophisticated bridge between the book's Meiji-era photography and the curated world of an elite twentieth-century art patron.

Condition Report:

First Edition. Overall in Excellent (Very Good+ to Near Fine) condition.

Exterior: Hardcover with its original, striking gold-and-black pictorial dust jacket. The dust jacket shows only minimal shelf wear and slight wrinkling along the top edges, maintaining its brilliant sheen and solid un-faded spine.

Interior: The binding is remarkably tight and square. Inside pages, texts, and high-fidelity plates are crisp, bright, and completely immaculate—free from foxing, tearing, or any marginalia.

 Ephemera Condition: Both the original "Mrs. Keidel" envelope and the handwritten holiday card are in excellent archival preservation, clean and structurally sound.