Beschreibung:

Official copy of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri, signed on September 2, 1945 Author: Place: No place Publisher: Date: c.1945 Description: 8 leaves, printed on one side only, with both Japanese and English text, facsimile signatures. Each leaf approx. 50.5x35.5 cm (19¾x14"), encapsulated in Mylar, set in modern cloth folder. Period leather folder, with cellulose acetate sleeves, in which the documents were previously stored is present. Rare period copy of perhaps the most famous document in 20th century United States military history. Of the two originals one is kept at the United States National Archives in Washington, DC, and the other is in the Japanese Archives at the EDO-Tokyo Museum. The original documents were printed on “parchment paper” and have the U.S. Army watermark. The MacArthur Museum and the U.S. Naval History Archive both concur that General MacArthur had 11 full-sized facsimiles made of the Instrument of Surrender for dignitaries on parchment paper that was recovered from the ravaged U.S. military offices in Manila, PI. These papers had a watermark. Beyond that, how many more were produced later by the State Department is not known. The present example is the same size as the original Instrument of Surrender. It is on parchment paper with a government watermark which is consistent with the paper used to make the original and with the copies on parchment that was found in the U.S. offices in Manila. The first page of content is a statement in English by the Japanese representatives, acting on behalf of the "the Emperor of Japan, the Japanese Government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters", that they accept the provisions for Japan issued by the US, China and Britain at the Potsdam Conference of 26 July, 1945 and unconditionally surrender. The next page displays the signatures of Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Yoshijiro Umezu and civilian plenipotentiary Mamoru Shigemitsu (both in Japanese), Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers Douglas MacArthur and United States Representative Admiral Chester Nimitz and other signatures of the representatives from the Republic of China, UK, USSR, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Dominion of New Zealand. The following page is an English translation of the proclamation of the Emperor Hirohito ordering the acceptance of the Potsdam Conference terms and the signing of the Instrument of Surrender in accordance with the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, along with a list of signers and counter signers made up of the then-serving Ministers of the Japanese government. The following page is the Japanese version of the above, bearing the seal of the Emperor, his signature and the signature of the heads of the Japanese government. The remaining four pages are made up of the Japanese language sealed authorizations by Hirohito, with English translations, for Shigemitsu and Umezu to sign the Instrument of Surrender on the Emperor's behalf. Click here to view the conservation report Lot Amendments Condition: The leaves are professionally and archivally cleaned, repaired and de-acidified, with a full report on the process and provenance available. Item number: 348070