[Catalogue of Publications for Public Utility].
68; 68; 75; 80; 66 folding leaves. Five vols. Oblong 8vo, orig. wrappers (rather tired & rubbed), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. Kyoto: Yao Ichibei, 1692.
An early bibliography of Japanese printed books; essentially a Books in Print, it was the principal guide to the subject for two centuries. “By the middle of the seventeenth century the flood of publications was so great that there was a perceived need for information and guidance, and it was provided by the booksellers’ catalogues known as shojaku mokuroku.”–Kornicki, The Book in Japan, pp. 176-77. The first printed shojaku mokuroku... More