[ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE JAPAN EXPEDITION].

by Heine, William:

$150,000 · Offered by Biblio

New York: Eliphalet M. Brown Jr.,, 1855-1856.. Magnificent Elephant Folio Lithographs of Perry in Japan Magnificent and very rare example of Heine's elephant folio-sized lithographic record of six lithographs illustrating the opening of Japan under Commodore Matthew Perry. In scale, scope, and quality of execution, this is arguably the finest lithographic work ever produced in the United States, and is among the rarest of all American color plate books. William Heine was the official artist on Commodore Matthew C. Perry's expedition to Japan in 1853-54. On returning to the United States, he produced several series of prints commemorating the trip, the first, the greatest, and the rarest of which is the present group consisting of a titlepage and six plates. These were overseen by the expedition's daguerreotypist, Eliphalet Brown, who was also an excellent artist and lithographer - he designed and drew the spectacular titlepage. The total number of sets of printed is not known, but, it is recorded that Brown gave 100 sets to Commodore Perry for distribution to members of the expedition. The number of sets sold to the public has not been established but was undoubtedly small. One of the reasons for the rarity of the complete set is that the plates were printed over two years by three publishers. Individual prints are occasionally encountered, particularly the four printed in 1855 by Sarony of New York, but the two other plates are much scarcer and were accomplished by different

• Year: 1855
• Binding: unknown

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