Eight columns per page, 17 characters per column. Three sizes of type. 42; 41; 38; 40 folding leaves. Four vols. Large 8vo (280 x 195 mm.), orig. dark wrappers dyed with persimmon juice (shibubiki), new stitching. [Enryakuji Temple, Mount Hiei: mid-Kan’ei, ca. 1626-30].

An unrecorded moveable type edition of the commentary and subcommentary of Zongmi (780-841), on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment. This is a rare example of an Eizan-ban, a book printed with moveable type at the temples on Mount Hiei, outside of Kyoto, where Enryakuji Temple, one of the most important monasteries of Japan and the headquarters of... More