Beschreibung:

WORLD WAR II]. Documents Pertaining to the Japanese Surrender, September 2, 1945. [U.S. Army Headquarters, Manila, shortly after September 1945]. 10 pages, large square folio, 602 x 452 mm. (23¾ x 17 3/4 in.), textured red leather over beveled boards, upper cover gilt-ruled at edges and gilt-stamped with title as above plus the name ("Major Norman P. Coliver"), the officer this copy was assigned to, a few very minor signs of wear to spine extremities, gray paper endpages and paste-downs, enclosed in original gray paper-covered protective box (minor wear). ONE OF TWENTY OFFICIAL COPIES OF THE INSTRUMENT OF SURRENDER SIGNED IN TOKYO BAY, 2 SEPTEMBER 1945, WITH CREDENTIALS OF THE JAPANESE SIGNATORIES World War II ended on 2 September 1945, on board the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, in a solemn ceremony in which representatives of the Emperor of Japan signed the official Instrument of Surrender. A total of nine Allied nations were signatories: the United States, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the U.S.S.R., Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand. Only two copies of the original Instrument of Surrender were signed. One was retained by Japan, the other by the United States. Several weeks later, following complaints received by the State Department, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers General Douglas MacArthur, who had accepted the surrender, was instructed to have official, full-size facsimiles prepared from the original, one for each of the nine nations. It was decided to include facsimiles of the Emperor's Proclamation of Surrender addressed to the Japanese people, signed by Emperor Hirohito, Prime Minister, and the full cabinet, plus the official credentials of the Japanese signatory, Mamoru Shigemitsu, Minister for Foreign Affairs and, lastly, Credentials of General Umezu, Chief of the General Staff of the Imperial Army. These credentials were both signed by the Emperor and display the large seal of the Empire. The four documents were carefully photographed and neatly affixed to large pages within ruled borders. Official typed translations were reproduced facing each of the Japanese-language documents. The work was produced by the Phillipines Printing Office, under supervision of the G-2 section of MacArthur's staff at his Manila Headquarters, and each was bound in blue carabou leather obtained locally. Upon inspecting the books, MacArthur noted that he was not among those who were to receive copies (Admiral Chester Nimitz had signed as U.S. representative). MacArthur requested additional copies of the facsimile edition to be prepared for himself and ranking officers of his staff. Red leather, however, was substituted for the blue carabou for the eleven additional copies. The total edition, therefore, consists of 20 copies. Exhibited : 1. San Francisco, California, 15-19 September 1952, Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association -- 2. Seattle harbor, on board the Missouri , August 1945, as part of exhibit commemmorating the end of World War II.