Trans. by Kumarajiva. Commentary by Ouyi Zhixu. Four splendid full-page woodcuts. 54 folding leaves. Large 8vo (318 x 198 mm.), orig. yellow-brown patterned wrappers, new stitching. Naewon’am, “The Inner Courtyard Nunnery,” Samgaksan: 1853.

A rare reprint of the 1753 edition of The Smaller Sukhavativyuha Sutra, one of the three most important Mahayana sutras of the Pure Land tradition, printed in 1853 (Xianfeng 3), at Naewon’am 內院庵, “The Inner Courtyard Nunnery” at Samgaksan 三角山, a peak of Pukhansan mountain north of Seoul.

The printing of our edition was financed by donations from nuns and lay believers. The names of donors... More

12 p.l., 374, [24] pp., one leaf of errata. 4to, cont. English dark blue morocco (unimportant scuffing to extremities), covers panelled in gilt & blind, spine finely gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine, a.e.g. Amsterdam: J. Claus & others, 1676.

First edition, rare, and a splendid copy bound in contemporary English dark blue morocco, most probably for presentation, of the classic exposition of the Quaker philosophy. The Society of Friends, as Quakers are more formally known, has historically had an outsized influence through the mere force of passive resistance. Their form of Christianity is “widely divergent from the prevalent... More

Trans. by Xuanzang 玄奘 in 650 CE. 70 pages, six columns per page, 30 columns per sheet, 17 characters per column. 14 sheets (average sheet length: 570 mm.), five pages per sheet. Accordion format (305 x 7980 mm., print surface from top border to bottom border: 245–250 mm.). Single woodcut borders at top & bottom of text. Orig. sutra binding of semi-stiff paper wrappers. Woodblocks carved by Ge Fang & Ma Qing (& others) in Sixi (present day Huzhou), printed between 1110s/40s–1276.

This fascicle, in its original sutra binding, was printed in the 12th or 13th century in northern Zhejiang... More

32 fine full-page woodcuts. 42 folding leaves. Large 8vo, orig. blue wrappers (wrappers rather rubbed, minor soiling), modern manuscript label on upper cover, new stitching. [Japan]: from the Japanese colophon on the penultimate leaf: “Nakano Zesui had the woodblocks carved & published this book mid-July 1655.”

First edition to be published in Japan, printed in Chinese with Japanese reading marks. Yongming Yanshou (J.: Eimei (or Yomei) Enju, 904-75), was a Chan master who had a profound impact on the development of Buddhism in East Asia. Yanshou was a widely influential proponent of a scripture-based Chan, in opposition to the rhetorical... More

20 fine brush & black ink drawings of deities & several smaller images. Scroll (290 x 11,980 mm.), delicately ruled in gray ink, wooden roller. [Japan]: 17th-18th century copy?

A copy of the eighth scroll from the ten-scroll set known alternatively as “Zuzōshō” 図像抄 [“Annotated Drawings”] or “Sonyōshō” 尊容抄 [“Annotations on the Noble Countenances [of the Deities Depicted]”], along with “Jikkanshō” 十巻抄 [“Annotations of Ten Scrolls”]. Our scroll is also entitled on outside of scroll “Sho myōō” 諸明王 [“The Various Wisdom Kings”]. The original was made in Japan in 1139-1140 CE (Hoen 5), towards the end of the Heian period... More

Scroll on paper (260 x 2440 mm.), carefully backed, new silk front endpapers, wooden core roller. [Nikko?]: with date “20 April 1863” at beginning.

During the Edo period, the Nikko Gohan Shiki ceremony was held frequently at the Rinnoji temple in Nikko. The ceremony was part of Nikko’s ancient mountain Buddhism. Paying visitors entered the Sanbutsu-do Hall to witness the ritual of compulsory rice eating. A procession of monks, led by a yamabushi (mountain priest) blowing a trumpet shell, entered the hall. The monks dispensed large bowls to six participants, each containing 5.4 liters of cooked rice, representing 75 bowlfuls... More

Scroll (655 x 1380 mm.; image measurement: 665 x 835 mm.), with endpapers (silk brocade on outside of endpapers), recently & expertly laid-down on new paper. [Japan: after 1847].

The Higashi Hongan-ji Temple is one of the most magnificent temple complexes in Kyoto. Our scroll was created as a celebration of the 1835 completion of the rebuilding of its two main structures, the Goei-do (the founder’s hall) and the Amida-do, which had burned down in Bunsei 6 (1823). The Goei-do hall is one of the largest wooden structures in the world (76 m. long, 58 m. wide, and 38 m.... More

Ten columns per page, 20 characters per column. The first leaf in Japanese, the remainder in Chinese. 1 p.l., 52 folding leaves. 8vo (275 x 173 mm.), orig. wrappers (wrappers quite rubbed & and somewhat worn), old stitching. From the colophon: “Kyoto: Tahara Ninzaemon, 1641.”

A very rare early edition — not in WorldCat or NIJL — of one of the “two priceless records of the earlier stages of the Chinese language.”–Edwin G. Pulleyblank, “Qieyun and Yunjing: The Essential Foundation for Chinese Historical Linguistics“ in Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 118, No. 2 (April-June 1998), p. 213. The... More

11 columns per page, 20 characters per column. Written in Chinese with manuscript Japanese reading marks. 52 folding leaves. Large 8vo (290 x 205 mm.), orig. wrappers (wrappers somewhat worn & rubbed), manuscript title-label on upper cover, new stitching. From the colophon: “Kyoto: Kotetsu shoin, 1608.”

A very rare movable type edition — not in WorldCat or NIJL — of one of the “two priceless records of the earlier stages of the Chinese language.”–Edwin G. Pulleyblank, “Qieyun and Yunjing: The Essential Foundation for Chinese Historical Linguistics“ in Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 118, No. 2 (April-June 1998), p.... More

42 folding leaves. 8vo (234 x 170 mm.), orig. wrappers (upper wrapper a little dampstained), orig. stitching. [Japan: from third to last page]: “19 April 1860.”

An engrossing manuscript account of the Japanese ship Koshiomaru and its crew, which, due to a violent storm, drifted far off course and ran aground on Catanduanes, a Philippine island. The crew was rescued and aided by an indigenous tribe. To our knowledge, this fascinating episode is unknown to Western scholarship. Due to Japan’s former strict isolationism, the experiences of the survivors of this incident as well as other examples of Japanese shipwrecked abroad... More

Lithographically printed. Title-page in Vol. I printed in red. 60 vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, orig. stitching. Shanghai: Tongwen shuju, 1892.

Excellent lithographic reprint of one of imperial China’s greatest encyclopedias, completed by Zhang Ying 張英 (1637-1708), and others on the order of the Kangxi emperor (1662-1722), of the Qing dynasty in 1701. The Profound Mirror Studio was one of the studio names used by Kangxi.

The Kangxi emperor was “one of China’s greatest rulers.” According to Jonathan Spence (1936-2021), “he possessed a self-analytical acuity and a sense of imperial mission that... More

23 mounted illus. (all but one in color). 86 pp., one leaf with colophon. 4to, green printed boards, title on spine. Cologne: Galerie Max Hetzler, 1991.

Scarce Martin Kippenberger (1953-97) exhibition catalogue, signed by the artist; produced in an edition of ca. 500-800 examples, according to Koch. Kippenberger has signed in the center of the title-page.

“[The catalogue] contains 23 pasted-in reproductions of a series of oil paintings on the theme of ‘Fred the frog on the artist’s cross.’ The first painting, reproduced in black and white, was created in 1988 in Seville, the others in 1989-90 in Venice, California... More