Customer Reviews

Coins of Japan,

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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 Most excellent as a historical document as well!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