Asia Bookroom

    Member of ANZAAB - Australia

    Member of ABA - United Kingdom

    Asia China Ephemera Japan Maps South East Asia

Asia Bookroom specialises in books on Asia with smaller sections on the Middle East and the Pacific. Our stock ranges from antiquarian and secondhand books through to ephemera, prints and maps and even some new books. We sell to private customers and institutions around the world. Join our mailing list to receive tailored offerings of new arrivals in your particular area of interest and visit our shop next time you are in Canberra.

Contact Information
Phone: +61 2 6251 5191
Website: http://www.asiabookroom.com
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Lawry Pl Macquarie, 2614 Australia Get Directions

Store Hours

Hours are generally:

Tuesday - Friday: 10.00 - 5.30;

Saturday: 10.00 - 5.00

Sunday: Closed

However, times can vary.

Please check our website to be sure before making a special visit.

Highlights
秘庫ニューギニア. 完. [New Guinea, Hidden Places. Complete].
$850
This scrapbook contains a series of newspaper articles by Kuribayashi Tokuichi on his travels in New Guinea shortly before the Pacific War. Once held by a teacher’s college in Yamagata Prefecture, the volume is neatly arranged with articles carefully laid down on to each page. Appearing just as the Pacific War began, such articles reflected the heightened interest in the South Seas and South-East Asia, regions central to the expansion of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere. For young readers, including students, reports like these were both informative and ideologically significant.
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[戦前芸者舞妓の生い立ちアルバム]. [Two Pre-World World II Photograph Albums Depicting the Life of Maiko and Geisha].
$1800
Two intriguing albums containing 183 black-and-white photos some showing family scenes, many depicting geisha and maiko (training geisha), in some cases with their clients. One album, probably from the 1910s-1920s, has the words Ono and Miyakoya on the front, suggesting that it was compiled by someone name Ono, who ran an inn or hot spring resort called Miyakoya. The second album, dating from the 1930s, includes a photo of a group of people at the front of a building with a sign reading 'onsen' (hot spring), while another depicts a female entertainer pouring a drink for a military officer.
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A Dictionary of the Chinese Language.
$8000
Scarce reprint of the second part of Morrison's Dictionary published between 1815 and 1823, with a notable provenance. The 1865 reprint was issued as a single volume, combining the second part of the dictionary with an index of characters arranged according to the Kangxi radicals. With the early inked signature of "Hugh Wadell, Newchwang 1869", the pioneering missionary whose work laid the foundation for the Irish Presbyterian Church's long-term presence in East Asia. Recent signature of A. Allan Shearer, Wellington.
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A Moorish Mosque at Bangalore.
$1025
A beautifully executed aquatint from the series 'Picturesque Scenery in the Kingdom of Mysore' by James Hunter first published in 'A Brief History of Ancient and Modern India' by Francis William Blagdon in 1805 (the engraving is dated on the plate June 4 1804). This may be from a subsequent edition (see Abbey, #425). Handcoloured aquatint engraving measuring 27.8 x 34cm. Sheet including platemark and generous margins measures 41.8 x 58.8cm. Very slight toning at the platemark, but the plate in very bright clean condition.
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Peking. The Beautiful. Comprising Seventy Photographic Studies of the Celebrated Monuments of China's Northern Capital and its Environs Complete with Descriptive and Historical Notes.
$4250
Handsome publication of scenic and historical monuments of Beijing, including the city gates and walls, Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Hunting Park, South Sea Palaces, pagodas, and temples. 71 tipped-in full-page monochrome and colour photographic plates, each with a decorative border and caption in Chinese, descriptive text leaf (in English) opposite. With an elegant Chinese calligraphic inscription from Han Huida [韩辉达] with his chop, for presentation "To Miss Xihuo" [希活姑娘芳鑒], possibly as a formal business gift.
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[三國通覽全圖. [General Map of Three Countries].
$6500
The controversial Japanese book and five accompanying maps, published in 1785, describes the geography and customs of three countries - Kankoku (Korea) , Yezo or Ezo (Hokkaido), and Ryükyü (Okinawa). This particular map shows the disputed islands, known to the Japanese as Takeshima たけしま/竹島 (Dokdo 독도/獨島 to Koreans) and Liancourt Rocks to English speakers, crucially marked as "Korea's possession". The map is imprecise, especially as it moves towards the border regions. However the purpose was to show the location of Japan amongst its neighbouring countries rather to give a precise description.
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萬国総界圖. [Map of the World].
$15000
A famous woodblock-printed Japanese map of the world by renowned Edo Period map-maker Ishikawa Tomonobu, who is also known as Ishikawa Ryūsen. This is a revised version of an earlier map produced by Ishikawa in 1688. 55.8 x 127cm (map); 59.5 x 131cm (sheet), folding into the original Japanese wrappers (chipped and rather worn) 26.4 x 17.4cm, the map with old repairs, laid down on washi, overall in remarkably good condition. Preserved in a modern blue linen Japanese case with toggle-closures.
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浅草観音？雨の図. [Kannon Temple in Asakusa in Rain].
$5250
Exceedingly rare limited edition woodblock print by Ginnosuke Yokouchi (also known as Kiyoharu Youkouchi), a Yokohama-based artist who began his career as a watercolour landscape painter, before producing eight self-published woodblock prints in the 1930s. Colour woodblock print 41.1 x 28.5cm (including margins), title in the lower margin, publisher's seals left margin, with artist's signature lower left and chop lower right, limited edition stamp on the verso (177 of 300), sheet a little age-toned, but the image in very good condition.
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察南自治政府四大綱領. [Propaganda Posters - Four Mottos of the South Chahar Autonomous Government].
$1600
A set of four propaganda posters, complete, prepared by the short- lived (1937-1939) Japanese puppet state - South Chahar Autonomous Government. Tiny closed tear upper margin of first poster now neatly repaired with washi. An impressive set in excellent condition. 79 x 17.5cm.
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[幕末明治初期太政官関連史料]. [Dajokan Related Materials around the End of Edo Period and the Beginning of Meiji Era].
$1500
10 manuscript sheets of varying size, minor wear at edges, some occasional browning but overall very good. The documents reflect a wide variety of official and diplomatic concerns. Names of major historical significance appear across the documents, including Iwakura Tomomi (岩倉具視), Shimazu Jusan’I (島津従三位), Sanjō Saneyoshi (三条実美), and three notable British figures: Sir Harry Parkes, William George Aston, and Ernest Mason Satow. This distinctive collection offers valuable insight into the shifting political and diplomatic landscape of mid-19th-century Japan.
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