{"product_id":"hermann-hesse","title":"Hermann Hesse - Siddhartha (Shittaruta)  Shinchosha 1925 First JPN ed","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS]\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/strong\u003e Hermann Hesse\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTranslator:\u003c\/strong\u003e Mitsui Mitsuya (三井光彌)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTitle:\u003c\/strong\u003e シッタルタ (Shittaruta \/ Siddhartha)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSeries:\u003c\/strong\u003e 海外文学新選 第22編 「獨逸文学」 (Kaigai Bungaku Shinsen \/ New Selection of World Literature, Vol. 22 — German Literature)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/strong\u003e Shinchosha (新潮社), Tokyo — Ushigome-ku Yarai-cho 3. Founded by Sato Yoshiaki (佐藤義亮).\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eYear Published:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1925 (Taisho 14) — First Edition, First Printing. Printed February 20; Published February 25, 1925.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat:\u003c\/strong\u003e Softcover. Geometric star design cover in brown and black (Taisho-era typography, vertical text, traditional characters). Frontispiece portrait photograph of Hermann Hesse.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/strong\u003e Japanese\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eOriginal Price:\u003c\/strong\u003e ¥1.50 (壱円五拾錢)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[OVERVIEW]\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHermann Hesse published \u003cem\u003eSiddhartha\u003c\/em\u003e in Germany in 1922. Three years later — in February 1925, in the final year of the Taisho era — Shinchosha issued the first Japanese translation as Vol. 22 of its \u003cem\u003eKaigai Bungaku Shinsen\u003c\/em\u003e series. This is not merely an early translation. It is the first translation of \u003cem\u003eSiddhartha\u003c\/em\u003e into any Asian language, published 26 years before the 1951 New Directions edition — with Alvin Lustig's iconic cover design — that established the novel's canonical status in the English-speaking world. The 1925 Shinchosha edition belongs to a stratum of the book's history that precedes its fame entirely.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe cover design — a bold geometric star in brown and black, framed by a ruled border with decorative corner elements, set against cream stock — is a distinguished example of Taisho-era Japanese book design: modernist in its abstraction, Eastern in its symmetry, and entirely suited to a text that moves between the Brahmin world and the river's edge. The frontispiece portrait of Hesse — young, bespectacled, in a bow tie — is the face of a writer not yet famous in the West, photographed before the Nobel Prize (1946) and before the 1960s counterculture rediscovery that made \u003cem\u003eSiddhartha\u003c\/em\u003e a global phenomenon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[IMPORTANT NOTE FOR INTERNATIONAL BUYERS: EASY AI TRANSLATION]\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile the text is printed in Japanese, you can easily read and study this historic book using modern smartphone AI tools. By taking a photo of any page with your smartphone and using free apps like Google Lens, ChatGPT, or Google Translate, the embedded AI will instantly scan and translate the text on your screen layout. Language is no longer a barrier to owning and enjoying this rare piece of literary history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[WHY THIS VOLUME IS A PRIZED COLLECTOR'S ITEM]\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThe First Asian Edition — 26 Years Before New Directions:\u003c\/strong\u003e The 1951 New Directions first edition, with Alvin Lustig's celebrated cover and slipcase design, is the benchmark of the English-language collector market for \u003cem\u003eSiddhartha\u003c\/em\u003e. This 1925 Shinchosha edition predates it by 26 years. It was published just three years after the German original (1922) — making it the first translation of \u003cem\u003eSiddhartha\u003c\/em\u003e into any Asian language, issued at a moment when Hesse was known only to a small international readership. The time-axis advantage over the New Directions edition is absolute.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePre-Nobel, Pre-Counterculture Hesse:\u003c\/strong\u003e The Nobel Prize came in 1946. The 1960s counterculture canonization — when \u003cem\u003eSiddhartha\u003c\/em\u003e became required reading for a generation — came later still. This copy predates both. The frontispiece portrait shows Hesse as he was in 1925: a respected but not yet globally celebrated author. This is \u003cem\u003eSiddhartha\u003c\/em\u003e before the world caught up with it.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTaisho-Era Design — A Collector's Object in Its Own Right:\u003c\/strong\u003e The geometric star cover — bold, abstract, hand-composed in traditional vertical typography — is a significant example of Taisho-era Japanese graphic design. Where the 1951 New Directions edition is prized in part for Alvin Lustig's modernist American design, this 1925 edition offers its own visual argument: a Japanese modernism that arrived at abstraction independently, from a different tradition entirely.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eShinchosha's Founding Decade:\u003c\/strong\u003e Shinchosha, founded by Sato Yoshiaki, went on to become one of Japan's most important literary publishers. This volume, as No. 22 in the \u003cem\u003eKaigai Bungaku Shinsen\u003c\/em\u003e series, is a primary artifact of the publisher's early ambition to map world literature for Japanese readers — an ambition that placed \u003cem\u003eSiddhartha\u003c\/em\u003e at the center of Taisho Japan's engagement with European modernism.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[CONDITION]\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGood Vintage Condition — Remarkable Survival for a 101-Year-Old Softcover\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eCover:\u003c\/strong\u003e Good. Age-toning and wear to edges consistent with 101 years. The geometric design retains its graphic clarity.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBinding:\u003c\/strong\u003e Intact. Some loosening consistent with age — clearly visible in listing photographs.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eInterior \u0026amp; Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e Age-toning throughout — natural and consistent with Taisho-era paper stock. Bookseller's stamp to colophon page. No writing, no clipping.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFrontispiece:\u003c\/strong\u003e Hesse portrait photograph present and legible.\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cem\u003ePlease carefully inspect all high-resolution listing photos to verify condition.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"shady2grove","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":65662359863645,"sku":null,"price":165.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1082\/5888\/5981\/files\/IMG_9007_c2a21ef2-beae-4cc3-ba1f-7b6822dd2d5d.jpg?v=1787464743","url":"https:\/\/shady2grove.com\/products\/hermann-hesse","provider":"shady2grove","version":"1.0","type":"link"}