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[harvardfineartslib]

We’re back from a long break! Sorry for the long silence but we’re happy to be back again.

This summer, we launched a new website for Early Photography of Japan. It is a virtual collection of more than 40 souvenir photograph albums and illustrated publications from Japan with over 2,000 images from Widener Library, the Fine Arts Library, and Harvard-Yenching Library. In celebrating this new website, we’re posting several images from the Fine Arts Library’s collection. 

Japan: Described and Illustrated by the Japanese – Part 1

In 1896, Tamamura Kozaburo, a highly successful commercial photographer in Yokohama, received an order from a Boston publisher that would eventually lead to the production of more than one million hand-colored albumen prints. At a time when most publishers were using illustrations produced via cheaper and faster photomechanical processes such as collotype or halftone, J. B. Millet Company used original photographs to illustrate no less than 16 different folio editions of the multi-volume Japan: Described and Illustrated by the Japanese published between 1897 and 1898. The publisher limited the most exclusive editions to 25 sets available by subscription only, along with larger editions numbering 750 to 1000 sets. 

The key figures in this undertaking included a Boston publisher, an expatriate Irishman, and a Japanese photographer. Harvard graduate Josiah Byram Millet (1853-1938) founded his publishing company in 1890, and like many in the Boston area, he became interested in Japan, learning to speak the language and developing close connections to many Japanese statesmen, scholars, and businessmen. He conceived the idea for Japan: Described and Illustrated by the Japanese and used his connections to secure financial backing for the project from the Japanese government.

Stay tuned for our future posts!

From Japan: Described and Illustrated by the Japanese

Image 1: Front cover Image 2: Title cover Image 3: Page XI, showing Mt. Fuji

Description Brinkley, F. Japan :described and illustrated by the Japanese. Boston : J. B. Millet Company, 1897-1898. Imperial edition. Fine Arts Library, Harvard University. Repository Fine Arts Library Institution Harvard University

[harvardfineartslib]

We’re very excited to announce our newly updated website for Early Photography of Japan, a virtual collection of more than 40 souvenir photograph albums and illustrated publications from Japan with over 2,000 images from Widener Library, the Fine Arts Library, and Harvard-Yenching Library. 

These images primarily document the early history of commercial photography in Japan and are representative of what is often called Japanese tourist photography or Yokohama shashin. They reflect the Western image of traditional Japanese culture before the dramatic transformation brought about by modernization during the Meiji period (1868-1912).

Wisteria tea house, Kameido, Tokyo Hand coloring 21 x 27 cm ca. 1890 Repository: Widener Library EGS04.11 KH 1756 HOLLIS number: olvwork474564

Ukimido (temple), Lake Biwa Description: The "floating temple" of Ukimido, a small temple built on stilts on Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture. Hand-colored albumen print mounted in album. 21 x 27 cm. 188-? Repository: Harvard Fine Arts Library, Special Collections EGS22.02 HOLLIS number: olvwork550467

Page 1 of Nippon fubutsu eishu, with 3 hand-colored photographs Author / Creator: Kusakabe, Kimbei, 1841-1932, Japanese [photographer] Description: Includes a view of Mount Fuji showing a man fishing, women in an iris garden, and a waterfront scene showing cherry blossoms and possibly a teahouse. Hand-colored albumen prints mounted on album page and bordered with gold or silver tape. 33 x 49 cm. From album: Nippon fubutsu eishu, p. 1 188-? Repository: Harvard-Yenching Library EGS34.01 HOLLIS number: olvwork665071