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Or.59.aa.1/2

Record Id:

040-003895074

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

032-003882029

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100121903820.0x000001

LARK:

SLARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100187872793.0x000002

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Or.59.aa.1/2

Title:

Esopo no fabvlas [Esopo no fabulas]

Scope & Content:

Variant titles: Isoho monogatari 伊曾保物語.

Author/compiler: Aesop. Name of translator unknown.

Imprint: IEVS [sic. IESVS] NO COMPANHIA NO / Collegio Amacusani voite Superiores no gomen- / qiotoxite coreuo fanni qizamu mono nari. / Goxuxxe yori M. D. L. XXXXIII. [i. e. 1593] .

Description: 1 kan, 1 vol. bound in western style together with Feiqe no monogatari (q. v.) and Qincvxv (Kinkushū 金句集, q. v.). pp. [1] (title page), [1] (address to the reader: DOCVIV NO FITOYE TAIXI- / TE XOSV.), 409-506 (honmon + mocvrocv 目録). 16.2 x 10.6 cm. Pagination continuous with Feiqe and Qincvxv.

Movable type (printed on a European printing press brought to Japan by the Jesuits). Printing frame 12.8-13 x 7.5 cm. No borders.

Text in romanised Japanese throughout, without kanji or kana. 24-25 lines to page, plus running title above: ESOPONO on even-numbered pages; XOGAINOCOTO (pp. 411-443) and FABVLAS (pp. 445-501) on odd-numbered pages. Naidai on p. 409: ESOPO GA XO- / gaino monogatari riacu ... ; on p. 443: ESOPOGA TCVCV / rimonogatarino nuqigaqi.

Edition: The only extant version of Aesop's Fables printed in romanised Japanese in pre-modern times. First and only edition.

Contents: A selection of 70 of Aesop's Fables translated from the Latin into colloquial Japanese of the late-16th century. Text of the Fables (pp. 443-502) is preceded by a short biography of Aesop entitled. Esopo ga xogaino monogatari riacu イソポが生涯の物語略 (pp. 409-443), and followed by a numbered list of contents (pp. 503-506). This edition, published by the Jesuit mission press at Amakusa, was the earliest work of European literature to be translated into Japanese. It was the forerunner of other versions of Aesop's Fables (Isoho monogatari 伊曾保物語) written as kana-zōshi in the 17th century.

Collection Area:

Oriental Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Japanese woodblock materials

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-003882029
040-003895074

Is part of:

Or.59.aa.1 : Feiqe no monogatari ; Esopo no fabvlas ; Qincvxv

Or.59.aa.1/2 : Esopo no fabvlas [Esopo no fabulas]

Hierarchy:

032-003882029[0002]/040-003895074

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Or.59.aa.1

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume　

Digitised Content:

http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100185602542.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Japanese

Scripts:

Japanese

Start Date:

1593

End Date:

1593

Date Range:

1593

Era:

Place of Origin:

Japan

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Condition: Good. No soiled pages.

Impression: Type shows comparatively little sign of wear.

Seals of ownership: Octagonal British Museum stamp, MVSEVM BRITANNICVM, on p. 506.

Manuscript notes: Brief note in Portuguese written in a neat hand in margin of p. 472.

Binding: The whole book was rebound in 1928, in brown half-leather. Original binding not retained. Text printed on ganpi paper, folded in-octavo.

Source of Acquisition:

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

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 5. Literature - fiction 国文－小説 f. Kana-zōshi 仮名草子

Publications:

Nihon koten bungaku daijiten 日本古典文学大辞典, vol. 1, p. 165; 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; Bunroku ninen Yasokai-ban Isoho monogatari 文禄二年耶蘇会板伊曽保物語 ; Amakusa-ban Isoho monogatari 天草版伊曽保物語. Text reproduced in facsimile in the latter two. See also detailed bibliography in Kirishitan-ban no kenkyū, pp. 210-3.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)