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, “The Inner Courtyard Nunnery” at Samgaksan, 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 are printed... More

Wood-engraved frontis. [3]-106, [1] pp. Small 8vo (150 x 94 mm.), orig. printed wrappers (a little worn), title on spine, leaves uncut. Paris: Giroux & Vialat, 1848.

First edition, in its original printed wrappers, of a scarce account of the 1848 Revolution, published several months after the uprising’s turbulent events. This staunchly Republican work commemorates the sacrifices of generals and troops who died during the worker revolt in Paris. There are accounts of the deaths of Generals Bréa, Négrier, Duvivier, Damesme, Bourgon, Regnault, and François. The final 30 pages concern the life and tragic death of Denys Auguste Affre, archbishop... More

Numerous woodcuts in the text. 35 parts in 16 vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers, new stitching. [China]: Xue ku shan fang, 1890.

Second edition (1st ed.: 1880) of the compiler Gu’s collection of writings by Zewei Bu and Bingzhong Liu (both Tang dynasty, 618-907) on feng shui, divination, geomancy, and Chinese astrology. Both the 1880 edition and our edition are very rare. The texts, which first appeared in the 17th century, have remained very popular, and there is also a 1970 (quite wretched) reprint.

Our edition was edited by Zhimo Xu, who lived in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The texts include... More

Trans. by Xuanzang 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, China... 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

14 parts in 13 vols. Large 8vo, orig. patterned wrappers (rubbed), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers (rubbed), new stitching. [Japan: 1648-52].

An early and rare edition of this highly influential commentary on the Tsurezuregusa [Notes from Leisure Hours] of Kenko Yoshida (ca. 1282-1350). Yoshida’s greatest masterpiece, it is a nonfictional prose work — zuihitsu — containing miscellaneous reflections and observations that continues to be read and loved today. “It can be said that Kenko discovered a couple of centuries before Montaigne that prose was the natural medium for conveying the motions of an inquiring, particularly a self-inquiring, mind... More

65 woodcut scenes on 18 panels (each panel 167 x 75 mm.), all joined in accordion style (orihon). Total length: 1430 mm. Orig. wrappers pasted on versos of first & final leaves. [Japan]: late Edo.

The repeated chanting of sutras, sacred texts believed to preserve the actual words of the historical Buddha, is an important part of Buddhist devotion and is considered to be a way of acquiring religious merit. However, to be able to read and recite a Buddhist text written in Chinese script, which was also used in Japan and Korea, requires a knowledge of many thousands of... More

One p.l. (or panel) with title & 67 woodcut scenes on a total of 20 panels (each panel 151 x 68 mm.), one leaf of colophon, all joined in accordion style (orihon). Total length: 1340 mm. (including binding). Orig. blue wrappers, woodblock-printed title label on upper cover “Eiri judaigan” [“Illustrated Ten Grand Wishes by the Goddess”]. [Japan]: from the printed colophon: “Ushu shonai shinkakudo ban” [roughly, “Printed in Ushu [today’s Yamagata Prefecture] by Shinkakudo”], Meiji period or later.

The repeated chanting of sutras, sacred texts believed to preserve the actual words of the historical Buddha, is an important part of... 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. 52 folding leaves. Large 8vo (280 x 203 mm.), later wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: colophon dated “1564.”

The earliest surviving edition 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 Yunjing, along with its predecessor, the Qieyun, were the standard pronunciation guides of the Early Middle Chinese and Middle Chinese periods.

This is a very rare book, with... 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

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