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The Book of Tea.

The Book of Tea.

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The Book of Tea.

by OKAKURA, Kakuzo

  • Used
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
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Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
London, United Kingdom
Item Price
NZ$524.48
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About This Item

New York: Duffield & Company,, 1912. Tea is a work of art Second edition, first printing, of this famous extended essay on tea culture first published in 1906. As the blurb of the recent Penguin edition notes, "For a generation adjusting painfully to the demands of a modern industrial and commercial society, Asia came to represent an alternative vision of the good life: aesthetically austere, socially aristocratic, and imbued with spirituality. The Book of Tea was originally written in English and sought to address the inchoate yearnings of disaffected Westerners. In a flash of inspiration, Okakura saw that the formal tea party as practiced in New England was a distant cousin of the Japanese tea ceremony, and that East and West had thus 'met in the tea-cup'". Octavo. Original green cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt, front board with blind-stamped panel, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Cloth bright, spine ends lightly rubbed, contents almost entirely unopened: a near-fine copy.

Synopsis

Zen and the art of tea-the classic book about the Japanese tea ceremony that is as much a guide to life. Ritualized, romantic, and historically rich, the tea ceremony is the creation of something beautiful out of the everyday. Originally written in English more than a hundred years ago to be read aloud at Isabella Stewart Gardner's famous salon, The Book of Tea presents the meeting of East and West in a teacup. It explores Asian culture through the history and aestheticism-or "teaism"-of the tea ceremony and also suggests a deep connection between beauty and war, and between flowers and social mores. In its formality, attention to detail, and celebration of beauty and harmony, the tea ceremony encapsulates the Japanese view of life-in fact, the art of life.

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Details

Bookseller
Peter Harrington GB (GB)
Bookseller's Inventory #
165839
Title
The Book of Tea.
Author
OKAKURA, Kakuzo
Book Condition
Used
Binding
Hardcover
Place of Publication
New York: Duffield & Company,
Date Published
1912

Terms of Sale

Peter Harrington

All major credit cards are accepted. Both UK pounds and US dollars (exchange rate to be agreed) accepted. Books may be returned within 14 days of receipt for any reason, please notify first of returned goods.

About the Seller

Peter Harrington

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2006
London

About Peter Harrington

Since its establishment, Peter Harrington has specialised in sourcing, selling and buying the finest quality original first editions, signed, rare and antiquarian books, fine bindings and library sets. Peter Harrington first began selling rare books from the Chelsea Antiques Market on London's King's Road. For the past twenty years the business has been run by Pom Harrington, Peter's son.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Top Edge Gilt
Top edge gilt refers to the practice of applying gold or a gold-like finish to the top of the text block (the edges the pages...
Gilt
The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Cloth
"Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
Blurb
The blurb refers to the commentary that appears on the dust jacket flaps or the rear of the dustjacket. In the case of a...
Octavo
Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...

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