A Bibliography of the Japanese Empire Vol. I-II; Being a Classified List of all Books, Essays, and Maps in European Languages relating to Dai Nihon [Great Japan] Published in Europe, American and in the East

Description:

Vol I: from 1859-93 A.D. [VIth year of Ansei - XXVIth of Meiji]. To which is added a facsimile-reprint of : Léon Pagès, Bibliographie Japonaise depuis le Xve sciècle jusqu'à 1859; Vol. II: comprising the literature from 1894 to the middle of 1906 [XXVII-IXLth year of Meiji], with additions and corrections to the first volume and a supplement to Léon Pagés, Bibliographie Japonaise.

At the turn of the 20th century, Japan had just emerged from isolation and there was a surge of European publications about its history, culture, politics, and economy. Friedrich (Fritz) von Wenckstern (1859-1914) a German Japanologist and bibliographer collected and organized thousands of references about Japan (mainly in English, French, and German). This work was one of the first large-scale, systematic bibliographies of Western-language works on Japan at a time when such information was scattered, inconsistent and hard to locate.

Condition

2 vols, 8vo, orig. cloth, wear to head/feet of spines. Paper browned to Vol II, a little brittle, a few chips to page edges; Vol. II front free endpaper and flyleaf detached. Withdrawn from an institutional library, a few ink stamps, shelf label to spine. Good.