[The Tale of Hogen, the Tale of Heiji].
Ten vertical lines per page, 19 characters per line. 44; 60; 53 folding leaves & 57; 62; 64 folding leaves. Three vols. of Hogen Monogatari & three vols. of Heiji Monogatari, issued together. Large 8vo (283 x 208), orig. dark wrappers dyed with persimmon juice (shibubiki), new stitching. [Japan: privately printed with movable type, mid-Keicho, ca. 1607-08].
There are several movable type editions of these famous war tales; ours is of the earliest printing but is an apparently unknown variant. Kawase states that there are two variants of the mid-Keicho “ten line” edition of these two tales. The first listed... More