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Published: 1878

Total Pages: 100

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"The obsessive, strange, and entertaining illustrations to supplement the author's "Epitome of the ancient history of Japan", published unillustrated in Nagasaki in 1875, in which he asserts the bizarre thesis that tribal peoples in northern Japan are descended from the lost tribes of Israel. The illustrations are supposed to support the theory by showing parallels between the religious rituals of Judaism and Shintoism, along with other evidence, social, physical and historical. "The engravings are the workmanship of the best Japanese artists; but as they have had as yet so little experience of foreign letters, the execution is imperfect" (Preface). The available information on the eccentric McLeod is scattered and conflicting, the best in Joseph Rogala's "A collector's guide to books on Japan in English" (London, 2001) no. 653, p.142, which includes a short list of his publications. But bibliographical information is inconsistent between available sources. It seems there are three editions of the "Illustrations..." but there are variations within each edition. " -- Catalogue description from: David Spode, Books on the Arts, Sciences & Humanites.