Limited to 450 copies (Heaney A38). The entire book and slipcase are housed in a lovely later cloth clamshell box. Prospectus loosely inserted. Fore-edge of the slipcase slightly faded, else a fine copy. Sir Harry Parks was sent to Japan by W.E. Gladstone, the English Prime Minister, to gather information on Japanese papermaking. His report, along with a large selection of handmade paper was sent to England in 1871, there soon buried. Hans Schmoller was told about this important cache of historical information in the 1970s and put together a fascinating history of Parkes, the German scientist, Engelbert Kaempfer, and accompanied the history with reprints of both the Parkes report and Kaempfer's description of Japanese papermaking, the first such report. Also reproduced are twenty full size color reproductions of Japanese watercolors depicting papermaking. Each copy of this book also has an extra suite of these plates in a separate portfolio.