Samurai William: The Adventurer Who Unlocked Japan by Milton, Giles - 2002-06-13

HARDBACK, SHIPPED FROM THE UK* Edn: 1st.* Imp: 1st. Full number line.* Date of Publication: 2002* Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton.* Binding and cover condition: Blue cloth, gilt title to spine. Minimal bumps, no rubs, minimal shelf wear to upper & lower edges and to head & tail of spine. VG++* Jacket condition: Colour illustrated dust wrapper, magenta and blue-green titles to spine and face. Price clipped, showing no shelf price. Absolutely minimal, slight, some shelf wear to top & bottom edges and to head & tail of spine. VG+* Contents condition: PRIVATE COPY NOT EX-LIBRARY. Black & white illustrated end papers. Clean, crisp, tight and bright with no reading wear, no marks to text, very slight marks to top & fore-edge, otherwise no visible faults. VG+.* Illustrations: A number of b/w photos plates and illustrations within text throughout.* Pages: 371 pp. text. xxviii pp., notes and sources index at rear.* Description: In the winter of 1611, a mysterious letter was received by the London merchants of the East India Company. The fact that it came from Japan, a forbidden and unknown land, was a cause of wonder, but even more remarkable was that the writer was an Englishman by the name of William Adams. Adams had sailed to the East in 1598, but most of his company had died by the time their ship was washed up unexpectedly in Japan. He fell in love with the barbaric splendour of the country and decided to settle. He soon forged a close friendship with the ruthless Shogun Ieyasu, took a Japanese wife and sired a new, mixed-blood family. However his homesick letter to London inspired the merchants to plan an expedition to the Far East, wishing to trade with the Japanese through Adams' good offices.* A NEAR VG++ text copy of the 1st/1st fnl. with some minimal faults in a VG+ dust jacket.*