Kōeki kokusankō 広益国産考 [Essay on Furthering the Nation’s Industries]
Many full-page & double woodcut illus. Eight vols. 8vo, orig. blue patterned wrappers (somewhat discolored), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. Osaka, Kyoto, Edo: Kawachiya Mohei et al., 1859.
First edition of a very scarce book, completed in 1844 but published 15 years later. This work is a summary of the author’s agricultural and technological writings over a 55-year period. Ōkura 大蔵 (1768-1856?), was one of the three most eminent agriculturalists of the Edo period. A reformer, he wrote more than 20 books on all aspects of agricultural improvement and technology; they were among the best of... More