ORIGINAL ART BY JAPANESE SCHOOL CHILDREN

Tokyo, 1908. First Edition. Hardcover. Front cover and first page detached. Still Near Fine and quite charming. Oblong (9" x 6-1/2") green floral silk cloth over boards with matching box containing handwritten explanations of the contents in English and Japanese as well as a typed statement in English, along with 101 ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, most in watercolor, by Japanese schoolchildren of Tokyo's Hongo district ranging in age from 6 to 14, many quite accomplished despite the age of the artists. Subjects include battleship portraits, landscapes, insect studies, patriotic scenes, genre scenes, portraits, and more. The album was created as a gift for then Captain Joseph Murdock of the ship "Rhode Island" as part of Theodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" trip around the world at his stop in Japan. Murdoch would become an Admiral as well as the Commander in Chief of the Asiatic Fleet in 1911. Included is a 1954 letter of provenance from Murdoch's family.