THE U.S.S. COLUMBUS AND VINCENNES IN JAPAN. [with:] DEPARTURE OF THE U.S.S. COLUMBUS AND VINCENNES FROM JEDDO BAY, JULY 29th, 1846

Philadelphia: Wagner & McGuigan, Lithographers, [1848].. Two folio lithographs, each 17 x 21½ inches, matted to 22 x 26 inches. First lithograph with several minor neatly repaired tears; expertly backed with heavier paper. Second lithograph with some very minor wear and soiling. Very good. This extremely rare pair of lithographs is one of the very few printed records of the first official American expedition to Japan, the diplomatic mission of Commodore James Biddle, which attempted to establish formal relations between the United States and Japan in 1846. Although overshadowed by the famous and successful mission of Commodore Matthew Perry seven years later, the Biddle expedition deserves far greater fame. It was, in fact, the first official contact between America and Japan, and certainly a necessary precursor to Perry's breakthrough of 1853. This graphic representation of the events of the visit, with the extensive textual gloss accompanying each plate, given the dearth of written accounts by the key figures, is the most important published record of the Biddle expedition. The prints depict Biddle's ships, the Columbus and the Vincennes, in Tokyo Bay during Biddle's visit of July 20 to 29, 1846.

Commodore James Biddle, a distinguished naval career officer and scion of a noted Philadelphia family, served his country in a diplomatic capacity on various occasions. Because of this, he was a reasonable choice in 1845 to head a mission to exchange ratifications of the first treaty between the United States and China, after which he was to attempt to negotiate a treaty with Japan. Biddle sailed from New York in June 1845, concluding the treaty with China early in 1846 and cruising along the Chinese coast throughout that spring. In early July, he proceeded to the next part of his mission, sailing for Japan on the 7th. Rather than sail for the open port of Nagasaki, he decided to make directly for Yeddo (modern- day Tokyo), arriving there on July 20, mindful of his instructions to "ascertain if the ports of Japan are accessible," but "not in such a manner as to excite a hostile feeling or a distrust of the Government of the United States."

Biddle's ships moved up Tokyo Bay on July 21, 1846, but were stopped by numerous small vessels carrying armed soldiers. His ships remained at anchor about fifteen miles below Tokyo for the duration of their visit. After an initial confrontation in which Japanese officials demanded that the Americans surrender their weapons, peaceful relations were established and numerous Japanese visited the ships, bringing many supplies as gifts. The first of the lithographs depicts the American warships at anchor, surrounded by many smaller Japanese vessels.

Biddle continued negotiations to be received on shore, without success. Finally it was arranged that he would present an address to suitable Japanese officials on board a Japanese vessel, and he arrived in full uniform for the occasion. However, upon boarding the boat the Commodore was deliberately knocked over by a common sailor. The Japanese officials professed to be mortified, and Biddle accepted their apology without insisting on harsh punishment for the offender. Subsequently there was much debate over whether Biddle had helped or hurt the American position by losing face or being magnanimous, depending on one's point of view, and this dialectic is still pursued by historians today. In any case, much of Commodore Perry's behavior in Japan seven years later was designed to avoid such an incident.

Feeling that he had carried out his instructions as far as they could be pursued, Biddle accepted from his reluctant hosts both supplies and a tow out to sea to catch the wind. For their part, the Japanese were happy to aid him in departing. A small fleet of rowboats towed the American warships from their anchorage, and this scene is the subject of the second lithograph. After the departure on July 19, Biddle made for Hawaii, where he learned of the outbreak of the Mexican-American War. As a result, instead of heading home, the Commodore took his warships to the west coast of America to support the conquest of California, and spent the next year there. Only in March 1848 did Biddle finally arrive back in Norfolk, Virginia.

Biddle arrived home in Philadelphia in April 1848 and died there on October 1. Since both of these prints bear a dedication from the artist, S.F. Rosser, to Commodore Biddle as if he were alive, it seems certain that they were produced during the six months of peaceful retirement the old sailor enjoyed before his death. Rosser, evidently a Philadelphia lithographic artist, credits his lithographs to be based on "Sketches by John Eastley," presumably a member of the expedition; of course, these probably arrived in town with Biddle. The printing was executed by the well-known firm of Wagner & McGuigan. An indication that the prints may have been hastily struck is the blank spaces left where the longitude and latitude of Tokyo were to be filled in. A small print run or limited interest must account for the extreme rarity of the prints today. We can locate sets only at the U.S. Naval Academy and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Biddle mission to Japan paved the way for the later successful expedition of Perry, and the latter's famous "Opening of Japan" must be seen in the context of the 1846 expedition. Perry came not as an isolated phenomenon, but part of an escalating American pressure campaign which was begun by Biddle. These prints are the most striking artifact of the true beginning of the Japanese-American relationship.

A truly extraordinary pair of lithographs, utterly unknown to most experts in the field, and of the greatest rarity. PETERS, AMERICA ON STONE, p.395. David F. Long, SAILOR-DIPLOMAT, A BIOGRAPHY OF COMMODORE JAMES BIDDLE, 1783-1848 (Boston, 1983), pp.185-238. Charles Oscar Paullin, AMERICAN VOYAGES TO THE ORIENT (Annapolis, 1971), pp.107-13. Nicholas Wainwright, "Commodore James Biddle and His Sketch-Book" in PENNSYLVANIA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY XC (1966), pp.3-92. Merrill L. Bartlett, "Commodore James Biddle and the First American Naval Mission to Japan, 1845-1846" in THE AMERICAN NEPTUNE XLI (1981), pp.25-35. Stephen B. Luce, "Commodore Biddle's Visit to Japan in 1846" in PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVAL INSTITUTE XXXI (1905), pp.555- 63. Richard A. Von Doenhoff, "Biddle, Perry, and Japan" in PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVAL INSTITUTE XCII (1966), pp.78-87.