Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1856. One volume edition (also came in three-volume edition). Hardcover. Good. 624 p. 27 cm. Engraved frontispiece, fold-out maps, engraved plates, small in-text illustrations. Bound in half leather with marbled boards and endpapers. Corners worn. Lacks suppressed plate, "Public Bath at Simoda," which should appear at p. 408. Plate considered offensive due to men and women bathing together. Some foxing. Occasional dark pages.

Title continued: "Performed in the Years 1852, 1853, and 1854, under the Command of Commodore M. C. Perry, United States Navy, by Order of the Government of the United States. Compiled From the Original Notes and Journals of Commodore Perry and His Officers, at His Request and Under His Supervision." Matthew Calbraith Perry (1794-1858) commanded American ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. In 1852, Perry was assigned a mission by President Millard Fillmore to force the opening of Japanese ports to American trade. He played a leading role in the opening of Japan to the west with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The orginal report of the expedition was published in three volumes, the cost partially underwritten by Commodore Perry himself. The author, Francis Lister Hawks (1798-1866), was an American historian and educator who became the first president of the University of Louisiana (now Tulane).