Books
in Japanese & books related to Japan
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1.
Haruki Murakami Surprisingly,
first editions of Murakami in Japanese are not that highly priced
(often lower than the first editions in English). The reason is partly
because collecting modern firsts hasn't caught on in Japan the way it
has in the West, and partly because Japan is only just beginning to
wake up to Murakami's international status as a novelist. Click
here
for
more highly collectible Murakami titles, in English as well as Japanese.
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The
colophon statement on both volumes identifies this set of |
If you are going to invest in Japanese first editions,
Murakami is a good bet. Prices have been rising steadily, both in Japan
and abroad, over the ten years or so that I have been involved in
buying and selling his works. But it is crucial to ascertain the
authenticity of what you are buying... Anyone
who wants to learn more about identifying Japanese first editions, or
about technical aspects of Japanese books, please click here. |
Click
here to check
out other Murakami titles!
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2.
Meiji period woodblock books
These little books are a fascinating relic of a bygone age. They are
typically made from folded sheets of rice paper, bound in soft covers
and threaded together (fukuro-touji
binding).
Click
here
to
see more books of this kind.
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Since her name crops up in relation to a 19th-century Tokyo bookstore it seems more likely that she commissioned or published, rather than wrote, the book. Japan's National Institute of Informatics (which has taken over from NACSIS as the main bibliographical record of Japanese books) does not record this work, but that is not much of a surprise; publications of this kind were basically ephemera, and only a fraction of them have been properly catalogued. However, it does list two 19th-century biographies of Jutaro, one (in a two-volume set, like this one) by Shonosuke Onishi, and one by Kinnosuke Maki. Only one copy of each of these is recorded, and I have not had an opportunity to view either. It is possible that this is taken from (or is an edition of) one of these two versions.
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These images
show the rest of the contents of these two books. |
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Posters,
memorabilia, etc.
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1960
poster for Nagisa Oshima's
movie The Sun's Burial, distributed in Japan mainly for the benefit of
American troops stationed in army bases. There's a small tear/crumple
towards the top of the right-hand side, just under the telegraph pole
(pictured right). Otherwise flawless.
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Click
here
for more Mishima items, including two very
special signed presentation copies given by Mrs.
Mishima to Paul Schrader,
director of the movie "Mishima". |
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Book: 金閣寺 (Kinkakuji) English title: The Temple of
the Golden Pavilion
Edition: first edition,
first printing (Oct. 30, 1956) Condition: Fine, in fine dust jacket, with publisher's wraparound band, also fine This copy has
been SOLD, but
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5. Edo
Period
Click here for
more Edo
period items.
Kaibara Ekiken (Ekken;
also Atsunobu), Nikko Meishoki
(A
Record of a Beautiful Sunny Place), Shoutoku
4 (i.e.,
1714). 18 cm. First edition, [1], 47, 8, [1] leaves, illustrations
accompanying
every page of text, maps. Only two holding libraries in Japan (Tsukuba
and Nakiyoudai). Published in the year of
the author's death.
Very good plus, with some worming and other signs of age. Pages of
folded rice
paper, fukurotouji binding.