Anthology of Japanese Literature From the Earliest Era to the Mid-Nineteenth Century

London: Allen & Unwin, 1955. First UK ed. Quarto in pale yellow, red-lettered jacket; 444 p., illustrations 22 cm. Fine in very good(+) spine-sunned, price-clipped, and lightly edge-chipped original jacket. Hardcover.

Original typed invoice to Dr. J. Steinhardt from B. H. Blackwell Ltd, dated 1956, laid in. The more uncommon UK first edition of this important and first anthology of Japanese literature in English. Contains poetry and prose. See photos for book's table of contents ¶ "Donald Lawrence Keene (1922 – 2019) was an American-born Japanese scholar, historian, teacher, writer and translator of Japanese literature. Keene was University Professor emeritus and Shincho Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he taught for over fifty years. Soon after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, he retired from Columbia, moved to Japan permanently, and acquired citizenship under the name Kīn Donarudo (キーン ドナルド, "Donald Keene" in the Japanese name order). This was also his poetic pen name (雅号, gagō) and occasional nickname, spelled in the ateji form 鬼怒鳴門."—Wikipedia. / Japanese literature.