Aldous Huxley — Migotona Shinsekai (みごとな新世界 / Brave New World), translated by Nisaburo Watanabe (渡邉二三郎). Kaizosha (改造社), Tokyo, 1933. First Japanese Edition, First Printing.
This is the first Japanese translation of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, published by Kaizosha in 1933, the year immediately following the English first edition (Chatto & Windus, 1932) — simultaneously with the French (Le Meilleur des mondes, Plon, 1933) and Italian (Il mondo nuovo, Mondadori, 1933) first translations. Japan was among the first nations in the world to bring Huxley's dystopian vision to its readers.
The cover design is by Hisui Sugiura (杉浦非水, 1876–1965) — the defining figure of Japanese Art Deco graphic design, whose work for Mitsukoshi department store and the literary presses of the 1920s and 1930s established the visual language of modern Japan. His cover for Migotona Shinsekai — depicting artificially incubated embryos in a Conditioned world — is a masterwork of the form: a fusion of Bauhaus geometry, biological anxiety, and the cool, prophetic detachment that Huxley's text demands. It is among the finest book covers produced in prewar Japan.
That this copy retains its original dust jacket is exceptional. Dust jackets from Japanese books of the 1930s survive at a fraction of the rate of their Western counterparts — the combination of wartime destruction, postwar paper drives, and the general fragility of the era's printing stock means that jacketed copies of this vintage are extraordinarily rare. The publisher's ken-in-shi (検印紙 — the official inspection seal) is also present, confirming this as a legitimate first printing from the original Kaizosha press run.
Huxley's vision — of a society managed through pleasure, genetic conditioning, and the erasure of individual will — has never felt more contemporary. The collector who acquires this volume acquires not merely a book, but a document of the moment when one of the twentieth century's most prescient warnings first reached Japanese readers — in a translation produced with evident care, in a physical object of genuine beauty.
Author: Aldous Huxley
Translator: Nisaburo Watanabe (渡邉二三郎)
Cover Design: Hisui Sugiura (杉浦非水)
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Title: Migotona Shinsekai / みごとな新世界 (Brave New World)
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Publisher: Kaizosha (改造社), Tokyo
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Year: 1933 (Showa 8) — First Japanese Edition, First Printing
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Format: Hardcover with original dust jacket (DJ) and publisher's inspection seal (ken-in-shi / 検印紙)
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Language: Japanese
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Inclusions: Original dust jacket present. Ken-in-shi present.
Condition: Good — Remarkable Survival for a 92-Year-Old Jacketed Copy
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Dust Jacket: Minor wear, toning, and light chipping/edge wear to the spine ends consistent with age. Presents beautifully overall, with the full visual impact of Sugiura’s design remaining intact.
Binding & Hardcover: Solid and complete binding. There is noticeable wear and minor paper loss/chipping to the lower spine and corners of the hard cover (visible in detailed listing photographs). This is the area most subject to shelf friction on books of this era; it is concealed when displayed with the jacket on, but clearly documented in the jacket-off photos.
Interior & Pages: Age-toned as expected for 1930s Japanese paper stock, but clean and well-preserved. No writing, no library stamps, and no tears (features the original publisher’s ken-in-shi copyright seal).
Please inspect all high-resolution listing photographs carefully — including those taken with the dust jacket removed — to review the spine condition before purchasing.
