Seiyo Chie Ita Zukai Tsuketaru Zu Tehon = Ninety New Moveable Puzzles

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Seiyō Chie Ita Zukai Tsuketaru Zu Tehon = Ninety New Moveable Puzzles

Itabe, Masashichi [translated by].

Ōsaka: [Kanshōdō], Meiji 10 [1877].

A charming and unusual Meiji-period introduction to Western style dissection puzzles, adapted from the English Ninety New Moveable Puzzles, published in London by Joseph, Myers, & Co. in the mid-nineteenth century. The volume reproduces twelve full-page illustrations from the English edition and provides explanatory notes intended for a Japanese readership newly encountering these geometric recreations. The work is particularly noteworthy for the circuitous cultural journey embodied in its subject matter. The puzzles derive from the Chinese tangram tradition, which many scholars believe was itself inspired by the Japanese Shōnagon no Ita, a form of dissection puzzle known in Japan since at least the Edo period. Thus, the present volume introduces to Japanese readers, under the guise of a Western curiosity, a puzzle tradition that may ultimately have originated in Japan itself.

One three-hole-bound (mitsumetoji) volume, complete, on double leaves, traditional East Asian binding style (fukurotoji). Original wrappers creased, worn, soiled, and with minor losses. Sticker residue to spine. Internally browned, with occasional stains and marks. Continuous wormholes to upper margin, repaired with paper backing. Small stamp to lower margin of last page. Sticker residue to colophon head. 4, [6] leaves. 13 x 18.8 cm.

Seiyo Chie Ita Zukai Tsuketaru Zu Tehon = Ninety New Moveable Puzzles
Price: $1,280.00 (USD)