Coins of Japan by Neil Gordon Munro has been reprinted
samsloan
This is an exact reproduction of the original work, except for the
foreword
First published in 1904 in Yokohama, Japan
Foreword
This is the great classic work “Coins of Japan”, the authoritative
source that is cited by everybody else.
This book is being reprinted because it is almost impossible to
obtain. Many libraries who claim to have it turn out not to have it.
There is only one for sale on the Internet. The price is $995 and it
will not last long. Turns out that that book was the one that Neil
Gordon Munro personally donated to the Royal Scottish Museum of
Edinburgh, Scotland. They recently discarded it, apparently not
realizing its rarity and value.
One reviewer writes:
This is the best reference book on Japanese cash coins ever published.
Although it has been over 100 years since its publication, nothing
comes even close to it, not even the works written in Japanese.
Munro's book is very readable. This is a tough book to put down once
you get into it. I just cannot imagine a collector of Japanese cash
coins not owning this book.
I have only been able to find one other one. That is in the New York
Public Library. It is in poor condition and fragile and they would not
agree to copy it.
Neil Gordon Munro (1863 – 1942) was a Scottish physician and
anthropologist. Resident in Japan for almost fifty years, he was
notable as one of the first Westerners to study the Ainu people of
Hokkaido.
Educated in Edinburgh, he traveled in India and Japan before settling
in Yokohama as director of the General Hospital in 1893. From 1930
until his death he lived among the Ainu in Nibutani village in
Hokkaido. Film footage he took of the local people survives.
Between 1909 and 1914 he sent more than 2,000 objects to the Royal
Scottish Museum in Edinburgh. He authored several volumes, among them
'Coins of Japan' (1904), 'Prehistoric Japan' (1908), and 'Ainu Creed
and Cult' (with H Watanabe & BZ Seligman, 1963).
Sam Sloan
New York NY
March 14, 2010
ISBN 4-87187-868-6
978-4-87187-868-5
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ISBN=4871878686