Reflections on Caxton's Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye

Yasuhiko Kageyama, Tokyo, first edition, 2001. Limited edition of 120 copies. Cloth, 4to,. [4], 108, [1] pp, ills. From the foreword by Lotte Hellinga: "Mr. Kageyama's ..explorations took place within the confine of the one book, the Recuyell. Like every traveller who finds himself in a strange, metropolitan city he sharpened his senses and made full use of personal skills, in his case those of a trained engineer. He has used guide - books and asked directions of those inmates (or fellow travellers) who looked potentially helpful, but the route he took is all his own. No scholar trained in Western traditions would have taken precisely the same route. There is all the more reason to pay careful attention to the points where he paused, and to enjoy Mr. Kageyama's Venn diagrams of word-pairs, his notion of the 'glossary' as well as its carefully proportioned presentation, observation on the engraving in the copy in the H. E. Huntington Library, his 'listening' to the comments whispered at the ducal court, and his own comments on the structure of that first quire, his thoughts on the organization of Caxton's workshop, the revelation of a possible cancel-sheet in the dedication, a curious parallel with the cancel sheet in the prelims of the History of Jason. I have listed here my own favourite passages, but they are not the only landmarks in Mr. Kageyama's book. I hope that many readers will share his joy in exploring Caxton's strange and complicated world. Fine in slightly used unlettered glassine dustwrapper. Laid in is a presentation sheet signed by the author presenting the book to Mrs Enid D. Nixon.