Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy – Stanleigh H. Jones Jr.
NF/NF

For sale: a Rare and Exceptional First Edition, First Printing hardcover copy of Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy by Stanleigh H. Jones Jr. in a Near Fine dust jacket protected in a new archival wrap. First Edition unstated, 1985 Columbia Univ. Press. First Printing with no subsequent printing. 296 pages. Eight glossy pages of production photos.

The exterior of the book is in Near Fine condition with clean, bright cloth boards, strong title ink on a convex spine, clean page blocks, tight binding, no  spine tilt, lightly rolled spine ends, mild edge wear, and two bumped corners. The interior of the book is in Near Fine condition with the ghost of an erased price on the first free end paper. No other marks, inscriptions or signs of ownership inside. The end papers and the interior pages are clean and bright, making it an excellent addition to any collection.

The dust jacket is in Near Fine condition with mild surface and edge wear, and no price on the front flap as issued. Looks great in a new Brodart archival wrap.

Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy is a classic play from Japan’s golden age of puppet theater. Written in the eighteenth century, it tells the tale of Sugawara no Michizane, a wronged scholar-official who, in death, joins the Shinto pantheon as a nurturer of scholarship and calligraphy. The story recounts Sugawara’s entanglement with the powerful Fujiwara family, who accuse Sugawara of plotting against the emperor, resulting in his exile and death in 903. After a series of misfortunes befall those who conspired against him, Sugawara’s enemies appease his spirit through deification. Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy centers on three archetypical brothers and their wives. Their fates unfold against the intrigues surrounding Sugawara and his foes, which reflect the cultural values of the Edo period woven into a stylized past.

This annotated translation by Stanleigh H. Jones Jr. replicates the play’s poetic and idiomatic language and its original mix of register while also clarifying the drama’s complex story and dialogue for students of Japanese literature and drama. An introduction situates the play within its eighteenth-century context and ninth-century setting and describes the relationship between bunraku puppet theater and kabuki. A unique illustrated appendix delves into the construction of puppets and the art of puppetry.

Ships promptly in a corrugated mailer with book wrapped in both craft paper and multiple layers of bubble wrap.