Jozef Rogala - A Collectors Guide to Books on Japan in English: An Annotated List of Over 2500 Titles with Subject Index

The dedicated bibliophile savouring his cherished cache.
Drawn by Kazuya Tomitaka

A Collectors Guide to Books on Japan in English

A select list of over 2500 titles

Compiled and Annotated
by

Joseph Rogala

A COLLECTORS GUIDE

TO BOOKS ON JAPAN IN ENGLISH

First published 2001 by

JAPAN LIBRARY

Reprinted 2004

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, 0X14 4RN

Transferred to Digital Printing 2008

Joseph Rogala 2001

All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means,
without prior permission in writing from the Publishers,
except for the use of short extracts in criticism.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue entry for this book is

available from the British Library

ISBN 1-873410-90-5 Case

1-873410-91-3 Paper

978-1-136-63923-4 (epub)

Typeset in Stone 9 on 10 by LaserScript, Mitcham, Surrey

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality
of this reprint but points out that some imperfections
in the original may be apparent.

Dedicated to

Paul Blum, Don Brown

Otis and Frank Cary

book collectors I never met

but whom I encounter

every time I walk into

a rare bookshop

And to my Hitomi

Without whose support

and patience this work

would not have

reached fruition

T he genesis of this book is rooted in my early years of residency in Hawaii, where I first encountered the culture of Japan. Cultural entities like samurai movies, bon dances, and sushi tingled my senses as my more modest experiences met the exotic.

The collecting of books on Japan began when I spotted Josiah Conders folio-sized Painting and Studies by Kawanabe Kyosai resting in a darkened corner of an antique shop. I was enthralled by the exquisite scroll pictures of tigers, monkeys and birds that Kyosai is famous for and I knew that I must have that book as an addition to my then small collection of older books. Inquiring as to the price of the book, the clerk noted that there was no price listed. I would have to wait for the owner to return before he could quote a price. Impatiently, I insisted that I had to purchase it then and there and that I did not have time to wait. I told him that if he would set a price, I would buy it and be gone. More to get rid of me, I suppose, than anything else, he nervously and somewhat quietly said, Fifteen dollars. Thinking he had said fifty dollars, which was more than I had on me or that I might be willing to pay, I hesitated. I said that that was more than I was prepared to pay for it. Impatiently, he stated that fifteen dollars was as low he would go. Realizing my mistake, I quickly reached into my pocket and paid the man, happy to have acquired my first authentic antiquarian volume on Japan. A few months later, rummaging through a thrift (charity) shop, I found four booklets from the Tourist Library series produced by the Japanese Government Railways. I purchased these for one dollar each. Over the years my acquisitions continued. I acquired a number of fascinating volumes on Japan, some cheaply, others a bit more expensive. My interest in Japan, and in books about Japan, peaked when I met my wife Hitomi. Through her inspiration I made a serious effort to study the Japanese language, history and culture and pursued, almost at fever pitch, the collecting of books until I had, at last, acquired a sizeable collection.