Photograph and Watercolour Album of Japan and China

Japan 1862-3, Folio (390 x 280mm) Paper Boards, Rebacked.

An Important and Highly Illustrated Journal with over One Hundred and Fifty Watercolours, Photographs and Illustrations.

It is not only an important illustrated portrayal of Japan and China during this period but also a first-hand observation of the bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the Anglo-Satsuma War.

Almost all of the illustrations have manuscript captions in Birch’s hand.

The Journal includes thirty-three photographs, some by Felice Beato, including the interior of a captured Chosu battery at Simonosaki, occupied by a British naval brigade before the dismantling of the guns. There are several other photographs of the conflict including a panoramic view (540 x 205 mm) of the Straits showing part of the Allied fleet at anchor in the Bay, just two days before the attack on Kagoshima. There are a number of smaller photographs of temples, various itinerants and Samurai.

There are Sixty-Four Contemporary Watercolours and Drawings of Coastal Views, Panoramas, including a dramatic watercolour taken from sea of the destruction of the city of Kagoshima on the night of August 15th 1863.

A magnificent Japanese painting on silk of a Palace and it’s grounds in the city of Yeddo (320 x 210 mm), with two others of a tea-house, and a fire in the palace. Several other water-colours almost certainly by Birch including a panoramic view of Macao, on the Canton River.

There are thirty-four paintings of Japanese trades (150 x 140 mm) in a ‘native hand’. Eleven large size Chinese paintings on pith paper & a photograph of the Allied leadership who led the assault on Kagoshima;

Indian mica paintings of trades; Five fine Japanese paintings on crepe. Further watercolours by Birch inc ‘Hong Kong (harbour), from Victoria Peak (320 x 180mm ) and two larger size photographs of Tibetan monks by Beato.

Edward A Birch was Assistant Surgeon to the fleet and stationed aboard HMS Euryalus. This was Birch’s Personal Journal and has numerous fine watercolours by Birch, who was a gifted artist. He also collected numerous photographs, native watercolours and illustrations included in this album and compiled an important historical document concerning his time spent during the conflict. The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the Anglo-Satsuma War (Satsu-Ei Sensō), was a battle fought between Britain and the Satsuma Domain in Kagoshima from 15 to 17 August 1863.

The British were trying to extract compensation and legal justice from the Daimyō of the Satsuma Domain for the Namamugi Incident in 1862, when vessels of the Royal Navy were fired on from coastal batteries near Kagoshima. The British bombarded the city in retaliation and pushed out the Satsuma but were unable to defeat them and retreated two days later. The conflict actually became the starting point of a close relationship between Satsuma and Britain, which became major allies in the ensuing Boshin War. From the start, the Satsuma Province had generally been in favour of the opening and modernization of Japan.