By Senshun So

MUSHROOMS.

Manuscript on paper, entitled “Kowa jinpu” [“Encyclopedia of Mushrooms”].

39 folding leaves, using pre-printed paper. 8vo (260 x 183 mm.), orig. patterned blue wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: Preface dated 1791 but this is a later copy, probably early Meiji.

A fine manuscript copy of the unpublished work by the doctor and botanist Senshun So (1758-1834), on the varieties of mushrooms found throughout Japan. So devotes much of the text to the medicinal uses mushrooms have. At the end, So discusses how to identify poisonous mushrooms and their antidotes.

So was responsible for the Seikei zusetsu [An Illustrated Book of Agricultural Things], the great agricultural and botanical work, issued in the early years of the 19th century. It is an encyclopedic survey of all the agricultural products and practices of Japan.

Fine copy. NIJL lists only eight manuscript copies of this text.

Price: $1,750.00

Item ID: 9145