Coins of Japan, [Unknown Binding]

Neil Gordon Munro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1904

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Neil Gordon Munro (1863 – 1942) was a Scottish physician and anthropologist. Resident in Japan for almost fifty years, he was notable as one of the first Westerners to study the Ainu people of Hokkaido. Educated in Edinburgh, he traveled in India and Japan before settling in Yokohama as director of the General Hospital in 1893. From 1930 until his death he lived among the Ainu in Nibutani village in Hokkaido. Film footage he took of the local people survives. Between 1909 and 1914 he sent more than 2,000 objects to the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh. He authored several volumes, among them 'Coins of Japan' (1904), 'Prehistoric Japan' (1908), and 'Ainu Creed and Cult' (with H Watanabe & BZ Seligman, 1963). --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Unknown Binding: 281 pages
• Publisher: [Printed by the Box of curios printing and Pub. Co.]; 1st edition (1904)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00086UPAG
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,288,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars THE book about pre-Meiji Japanese coinage as written in 1904., December 18, 2011

By 

Jackie-the-Greyhound "45-mile-an-hour-couch-p... (Spain) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coins of Japan (Paperback)

Well, predominantly pre-Meiji, though there is some Meiji type coinage included.

In any case, this book was written in 1904 by a Scottish expat/physician/anthropologist and was the most detailed and complete book (some say in English OR Japanese, but as my Japanese skills are nil I can't guarantee that is true) regarding the topic. Nothing ever really approached it and as such this has been a highly sought after resource.

Highly sought after means--'difficult to find and extremely expensive' (I googled and an original first edition can be found for 250 British Pounds at the moment if that gives you an idea--and a 1962 reprint for a bit under 200 US dollars).

Nowadays however, in the world of 'public domain' much can be had that was never available before. Of course, 'much' is garbage too in terms of quality of the copy and materials as well.

This particular book is a US printed version published by Ishi press in 2010 (Amazon does have a way of 'lumping' reviews sometimes and, particularly with public domain titles, it pays to be careful to understand what edition a given review is written for). As such the copy is pretty clear--of course the color plates do not translate as well the pictures of the originals I've seen appear to be quite beautiful while these are very workable. The text and illustrations are clear--clearly a copy, but clear. The paper and binding are of apparent good quality and this particular version is quite nice enough for the basic personal library.

This is highly recommended for the study of Japanese coinage--short of an original copy--just ensure you are getting the version that this review pertains to. Most excellent as a historical document as well!

JTG