A Meiji-Era Account of the US Civil War

[History of the American Civil War] Beikoku nanboku senshi

Matsui, Kokichi (or Hirokichi or Hakken)

Notes: A scarce Japanese history of the US Civil War published just as Japanese immigration to the United States began to increase rapidly. Nineteenth-century Japanese books on the United States are uncommon, especially those written by Japanese authors, rather than missionaries or translated from English. These books help explain the understanding Japanese emigrants had of the United States as they left for America.

As with many Japanese authors, the identity of the author of this book has been hard to trace. He published several history books and a biography in the 1890s, suggesting that he wrote for the growing educated middle class-of Meiji era Japan. Many online databases also connect him to Wanderings in the United States [Beikoku manyu zakki], published in 1901 using a different pair of kanji characters that are typically romanized to Hakken. The characters used for this book are usually given as Kokichi or Hirokichi, but some sources also use Hakken. Hakken may have been a nom de plume.

OCLC: 672530962 (National Diet Library, Waseda), 44414126 (Columbia, ISEAS-Singapore)

Edition + Condition: First edition. A very good copy in the publisher's original printed wrappers. With a small bit of loss at the base of the spine. This copy retains its original printed sleeve, the Japanese equivalent of a 19th century dust jacket and perhaps even less common.

Publication: Tokyo: Hakubunkan, 1895 [Meiji 28].

Item No: #361863

Price: $1,250