Feiqe no monogatari; Esopo no fabvlas; Qincvxv

Archive Unit
  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 59 Or.59.aa.1
  • Dates of Creation
      1593
  • Language of Material
      Japanese
  • Physical Description
      1 volume Condition: Good, despite frequent handling. Impression: Type shows comparatively little sign of wear. Seals of ownership: Octagonal British Museum stamp, MVSEVM BRITANNICVM, on last page of printed glossary and manuscript vocabulary. Binding: The whole book was rebound in 1928, in brown half-leather. Original binding no longer survives. Text printed on ganpi paper, folded in-octavo.

Scope and Content

Variant titles: Heike monogatari 平家物語; Isoho monogatari 伊曽保物語; Kinkushū 金句集. Author/compiler: Unknown. The Christian convert Fabian may have been involved in adapting and annotating the works. Imprint: Amakusa, 1593. Description: 1 volume bound in western style containing the texts of Feiqe no monogatari and Esopo no fabvlas and Qincvxv accompanied by a combined preface and a glossary of 'difficult' words in the first two works. Dimensions: 16.2 x 10.6 cm. Movable type (printed on a European printing press brought to Japan by the Jesuits). Text in romanised Japanese throughout.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Unknown. Probably acquired in the latter half of the 18th century, but not from the Kaempfer Collection.

Other Finding Aids

Kenneth Gardner, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese books in the British Library printed before 1700 (London and Tenri, 1993). C. Japanese works 和書 4. Literature - kanbun 国文学-漢文

Bibliography

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 2, p. 239; Kirishitan-ban no kenkyū きりしたん版の研究, p. 135 and passim; The Jesuit mission press in Japan, 1591-1610; Amakusa-ban kinkushū no kenkyū 天草版金句集の研究; see also detailed bibliography in Kirishitan-ban no kenkyū, p. 213.