Coree

1917 · 167697 — Tokyo: Rikuchi Sokuryobu 1917. First edition first printing of this bilingual tourist map of Mount Kumgang produced by the nascent Japanese colonial administration in Korea. In the 1910s politicized textbooks for Korean students singled out Fuji and Kumgang as the largest mountains in Japan and Korea while always stressing Fuji's status as the tallest. We have traced a single institutional copy at the National Diet Library. Kumgang was a popular destination for western travellers and naturalists. In 1917 the areas was visited by the legendary plant-hunter E. H. Wilson who discovered two species of maple as well as several new taxa on its slopes. In his notes he wrote how the mountain "drives a photographer to despair for no sooner has he taken one superb view than another seemingly more superb presents itself" quoted by Arnold Arboretum. Colour lithographed map 630 x 820 mm folding away to 209 x 110 mm as issued. Text in Japanese and English. Several contemporary ink circles and annotations. A few small splits along folds not affecting map area old brown paperclip mark a little creasing and soiling. A very good bright example. "1917-1919: Expedition to Eastern Asia" Arnold Arboretum available online. unknown