Saturday, Jun 06, 2026 3:15 PM - 4:30 PM

Location:
Asia Bookroom
Lawry Place
Macquarie ACT

Ph: 02 62515191 or 0494 342 325
RSVP by 5pm on June 5th to Books@AsiaBookroom.com or by phone to 02 62515191 or 0494 342325

A gold coin donation to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation would be much appreciated.

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Tessa Morris-Suzuki on the Art, Lives and Legacy of the Detmold Twins

Please join us at Asia Bookroom on Saturday June 6th at 3.15pm to celebrate the publication of Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki’s latest book, Nature, War and the Art of the Detmold Twins: Orientalist Dreams, Modernity’s Nightmares.

 

Many of you will know Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki for her pre-eminent work in Japanese studies, but this remarkable new book reveals another aspect of her wide-ranging scholarship and imagination. Set against the background of Britain at the end of the 19th century and into the 20th, it tells the story of the extraordinary Detmold twins, Edward and Maurice, whose images many people will recognise even if they do not know the artists’ names.

Edward Julius Detmold’s haunting illustrations appeared in books such as The Arabian Nights, Kipling’s Jungle Book, Fabre’s Book of Insects and many others. These beautifully illustrated works are still admired in the antiquarian book world, but the larger body of work created by the twins, and the story of their lives, is far less well known.

The story is both sad and inspiring: the twins’ intense artistic vision, their love of nature and beauty, the shocking suicide of Maurice Detmold in his mid twenties, and Edward’s later commitment to the environment and his strong anti-war stance during and after the First World War. In Nature, War and the Art of the Detmold Twins, Tessa Morris-Suzuki tells this story with great delicacy and insight, drawing the reader into a world of beauty, loss, imagination and conscience.

Tessa has also created a series of wonderful short videos about the twins, beginning with the prologue here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvs2fMdZRZo

The first part can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmkcCP-1eV4&t=125s  The remaining three parts can be found on Tessa’s YouTube channel.

 

Please join us on Saturday June 6th at 3.15pm to hear Tessa Morris-Suzuki tell the compelling story of the Detmold twins, their art and their remarkable legacy.

Afternoon tea will be provided after Tessa's talk.