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Just a small selection of the new arrivals.....
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故宫建筑 Gugong Jian zhu. [The Buildings in the Imperial Palace].
THE IMPERIAL PALACE MUSEUM. (COMPILED BY)
AU$55.00
2 colour full page plates, 72 black and white photographic plates, unpaginated, original pictorial wrappers very lightly worn at corners. Very good copy. Text in Chinese. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 137729)
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Stock ID: 137729
Street Scenes of Old Japan. Calendar 1910.
[CREPE PAPER CALENDAR].
AU$450.00
12 double page colour wood blocks and a single woodblock image by Yoshimune on both the upper and lower wrappers. Occasional small creases at extremities, one tiny closed tear upper wrapper, a few occasional marks wrapppers, spine chipped in one place. A most attractive crepe paper volume. Each of the 12 colour wood blocks show a scene appropriate to the time of year with a caption in English and a calendar for the month. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 138117)
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Stock ID: 138117
A History of Java. 2 Volume Set.
RAFFLES, THOMAS STAMFORD.
AU$105.00
Volume 1: maps, black and white illustrations, xlviii + 480 pages, quarto, paperback. Volume 2: black and white illustrations, viii + 290 + cclx pages, appendices, quarto, paperback. Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) was a British civil servant and statesman, best known for his founding of Singapore. After the capture of Java by the British in 1811, Raffles was appointed Lieutenant Governor of the island, a position he held until 1815. Following a two-year interlude in England, he sailed back to the East, and established Singapore in 1819. This history of Java from the earliest times also gives a comprehensive ethnographic description of the island's society, describing its economy, trade, languages and dialects, and religious and social customs. These volumes provide invaluable information of the study of contemporary Javanese society and history. A classic work. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 135116)
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Stock ID: 135116
Picturing the Chinese. Early Western Photographs and Postcards of China.
LAU, GRACE.
AU$47.50
Black and white and colour photographic illustrations, 175 pages, index, paperback. A new look at old photographs, Picturing the Chinese shows historical events in China that for most readers have existed until now only in words: the Opium War, the Boxer Rebellion, the opening of Chinese ports to Western missionaries and tourists. Here are documentary and landscape photographs, studio portraits and picture postcards, all chosen from private collections, archives and libraries in Shanghai, London, Paris and Boston. Beautifully captured on camera by such renowned photographers as John Thomson and Felice Beato, the subject matter ranges from military engagements and panoramas of Beijing to Chinese courtesans and convicts. These eloquent photographs are accompanied by an enthralling historical account which relates the new technology of vision, as it was then, to the imperialist penetration of China by the West, weaving together such fascinating themes as chinoiserie and the hidden cultural biases of the viewers. The result is a rich interplay of word and image that will inform and engage the general reader no less than the China specialist or student of photography. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 137634)
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Stock ID: 137634
Shanghai Style. Art and Design Between the Wars.
PAN, LYNN.
AU$48.50
Colour and black and white photographic illustrations, 285 pages, index, bibliography, paperback. Shanghai in the 1920's and 30's was a daring experiment in what it meant to be modern. Its taste for the new was everywhere apparent in its visual culture - in its painters, graphic designers, cartoon and commercial artists, architects and interior decorators. Eclectically blending their own Chinese heritage with European, American and Japanese cultural influences, these artists created what Lynn Pan calls Shanghai Style, the defining look and ehtos of the period. Denigrated by some at the time for being slick and superficial, and admired by others for being up-to-date and glamorous, today Shanghai Style is seen to be iconic, a true reflection of the city in its heyday. Shanghai Style combines a scholar's rigorous research with an obvious delight in the engaging personalities it introduces and the stories it tells. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 137658)
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Stock ID: 137658
The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook.
STEEL, F.A. AND GRACE GARDINER.
AU$22.95
(WAS
AU$29.95)
xlii + 352 pages, index, notes, hardback, dustjacket. First published in 1888, The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook sought to provide practical advice to young memsahibs in India, 'giving the duties of mistress and servants, the general management of the house and practical recipes for cooking in all its branches'. Ostensibly a manual of household management, it opens a fascinating window on to the day-to-day life of the British in India. Brisk, capable, humorous, highly opinionated and frequently ironic, the voice that emerges commands the reader's attention; Steel and Gardiner's mission to uphold British standards in Indian kitchens has illuminating parallels with the running of the British Empire, and their domestic guide reveals as much about British attitudes to India as any history book on the Raj. They explain how to 'make a hold' over servants, how to establish and stock a storeroom, how to plan a menu, manage young children, treat bites from 'mad, or even doubtful dogs', and teach an Indian cook how to make fish quenelles. Whether living in camps or in the jungle, on the hills or in the plains, no British woman would be at a loss with The Complete Indian Housekeeper by her side.
The Mrs Beeton of British India, Steel and Gardiner's classic work was hugely popular and many times reprinted. This new edition illuminates the fascinating details of imperial household economics as seen through the eyes of these two curious, intelligent, and widely travelled women. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 137989)
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Stock ID: 137989
Hokusai. One Hundred Poets.
MORSE, PETER.
AU$59.95
(WAS
AU$112.00)
Well presented, colour illustrations, 222pp, index, dustjacket. Large quarto. The advice offered by the lively images from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries featured here is sometimes comically anachronistic, but is often evidence of a remarkably modern sophistication concerning balanced eating, sleeping, and exercising. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 122882)
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Stock ID: 122882
Khubilai Khan's Lost Fleet. In Search of a Legendary Armada.
DELGADO, JAMES.
AU$23.95
(WAS
AU$86.95)
Maps, black and white photographic illustrations, xi + 225 pages, index, notes, sources, dustjacket. In 1279, near what is now Hong Kong, Mongol ruler Khubilai Khan fulfilled the dream of his grandfather, Genghis Khan, by conquering China. The Grand Khan now ruled the largest empire the world has ever seen - one that stretched from the China Sea to the plains of Hungary. He also inherited the world's largest navy - more than seven hundred ships. Yet within fifteen years, Khubilai Khan's massive fleet was gone. What actually happened to the Mongol navy, considered for seven centuries to be little more than legend, has finally been revealed.Renowned archaeologist and historian James P. Delgado has gone diving with a Japanese team currently studying the remains of the Khan's lost fleet. Drawing from diverse sources - sunken ships, hand-painted scrolls, drowned bodies, and historical and literary records - in this gripping account that moves deftly between the present and the past, Delgado pieces together the fascinating tale of Khubilai Khan's maritime forays and unravels one of history's greatest mysteries: what sank the great Mongol fleet? (When referring to this item please quote stockid 138065)
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Stock ID: 138065
What is Asia Bookroom?
Asia Bookroom is a leading Asian bookselling specialist. We have a large stock of books, old and new, ephemera, antique maps and prints on China, Japan, India, Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma/Myanmar, Laos, Sri Lanka/Ceylon, Malaysia, Singapore, Timor Leste, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Himalayan region including Tibet and Central Asia. We stock books on all of these areas - and many Asian themes and topics - for example cookery and food, religion and philosophy, Asian art and many more. We also carry a large range of children's books on Asia. Browse our site and subscribe to our mailing list for updates of new books as they arrive.
