Pacaritambo

THE ADVENTURES OF WU: The Life Cycle of a Peking Man (Volumes 1 & 2)
by H. Y. Lowe. Introduction by Derk Bodde. B&W drawings illustrate. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1983 Princeton University Press Trade Paperback, first printing. Serious edgewear front cover edges with a light diagonal crease top front cover cornr. Interior clean & tight but it has been "handled." Content: Not really a history; not really a novel. This was originally a series of newspaper articles explaining Chinese customs and culture printed in the Peking Chronicle (I believe, in the 1930s - 40s) and put into book form (2 volumes) much later. The articles had been revised and rewritten for the book. Detailed daily life of a well-to-do Chinese family. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 9.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

CASTING THE EVIL EYE: Witch Trials in Tribal India
by Archana Mishra. B&W photos illustrate. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 2003 Namita Gokhale (India) hardcover (pictorial boards - no DJ), no edition given. The binding on the book is either somewhat defective or has been lightly damaged - there's a bit of a "break" inside front cover. Not bad, but there. Content: Documents the trials, punishments, and rituals of those accused of witchcraft in remote areas of India. [1 copy available]
$ 8.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

CHINESE AMUSEMENT: The Lively Plays of Li Yu
by Eric Henry. Condition: UNREAD 1980 Archon Books hard cover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Pale tanning to white DJ edges. Content: From the DJ: Li Yu was born in 1611 and died in 1680 or shortly thereafter. He led a busy, turbulent, and productive life, during the course of which he became one of the principal literary figures of the early Ch'ing dynasty. One of the most versatile and inventive of all Chinese authors, Li Yu's work possesses a special buoyancy, ease, and humor. This book takes the reader into the mental life of seventeenth-century China by allowing him to participate in the jokes and fantasies, the yearnings and antagonisms, the skepticisms and enthusiasms, contained in the plays of Li Yu. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 10.50 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

THE DRAGON KING OF THE SEA:
Japanese decorative art of the Meiji period from the John R. Young Collection
by Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley. Beautiful color photos of the artwork. Condition: NEW 1991 Ashmolean Museum Oxford Press (London) hardcover and DJ (mylar jacket). Tiny edgewear bottom DJ edge. Content: Japan's Mieji period (1868-1912) produced beautiful decorative arts in three basic categories metalwork, cloisonne and Shibayama lacquer. Described are manner of production, artists and the trade; innovations within the romantic school of realism; the midway school; the more oldfashioned pure Japanese school. [1 copy available]
$ 8.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

GANDHI: Messian of Peace (Pocket Arts)
by Lustre Press/Roli Books. B&W photos. Condition: NEW 2003 Roli Books oft cover, no edition given. Content: The life of Indian great, Gandhi, in text and B&W photos which are suitable for either postcards or teaching aids for history teachers. [1 copy available]
$ 2.00 + $ 2.89 media shipping. Priority shipping available.

THE GIRL WITH THE WHITE FLAG
by Tomiko HIga. Translated by Dorothy Britton. B&W photos and maps. Condition: NEW 1992 Dell Yearling Trade Paperback, second printing. Tanning to page edges. Content: Higa tells of her experiences as a seven year old wandering for seven weeks in battle-torn Okinawa in 1945. Her nine-year-old brother was killed beside her as they slept. Separated from her sisters, she survived on her own and then with an elderly, handicapped couple. Although bloody corpses are a common sight, the book is not depressing. Aspects of Oriental culture and religion, such as the importance of family and the relationship of man to nature, can be seen. Sentences are usually short, but they don't detract from the effectiveness of this moving, autobiographical memoir. Recent immigrants from countries ravaged by war will find it particularly meaningful. All will be touched by Higa's tenacity under impossible circumstances and will be reminded that children continue to be the worst victims of war. [1 copy available]
$ 3.49 + $ 2.89 media shipping. Priority shipping available.

THE HIMALAYAN KINGDOMS: NEPAL, BHUTAN & SIKKIM
by Bob Gibbons & Bob Ashford. B&W photos and maps. Condition: UNREAD 1987 Hippocrene Books Trade Paperback, first printing. Tiny edgewear bottom front cover & fore edge. Content: The history and travel suggestions of Nepal, Bhutan & Sikkim - just as the title says. While some of the information is out-of-date, the history and photos are worth the read. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 4.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

HO YI THE ARCHER AND OTHER CLASSIC CHINESE TALES
retold by Shelley Fu. B&W illustrations by Joseph Abboreno. Condition: NEW 2001 Linnet Press hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Content: This collection of the folktales best known to the Chinese people presents elegant versions of nine classic stories. Included are the famous tales of Pan Gu and Nu Wo, the creators of the world and mankind; Ho Yi the master archer; Shun Wu Koong, the Monkey King who rebelled against authority; Wu Gan, the greedy little boy; Bai Su Tzin, the White Snake, and the Cowherd and Weaving Maid. These stories offer a rare glimpse into the psyche of the Chinese people, and display the richness, beauty, and down-to-earth spirit of their culture. Chinese religion, philosophy, and tradition all permeate the tales, and yet all of the stories deal with human universals: self-sacrifice, wisdom, gentleness, vanity, greed, and love. The author sets each tale in a context and discusses the themes that run through them, and their significances. She also provides a list of characters, a pronunciation guide, and a resources section. This is the only book in English that retells these important stories in depth. Shelley Fu reads, writes, and speaks Mandarin, and as a Chinese-American understands the emotional and psychological landscape of the stories well. Aimed at Young Adults, ages 10 +. [1 copy available]
$ 7.49 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

INDIAN MYTHS & LEGENDS
by K. E. Sullivan. Beautiful color photos of paintings from Ancient Indian texts. Condition: NEW 2004 Brockhampton Press (UK) large soft cover, reprint. Content: Reviewer: "India has a cultural heritage of a wide variety of myths and legends linked to religious beliefs and philosophical interpretation of the universe. These are contained in the written and oral traditions of the Indian epics like the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the stories of the Puranas and Vedas. "Indian Myths & Legends" gives an excellent introduction to these stories and narrates a few important ones along with paintings and illustrations. There are more than fifty such full-page color illustrations, which is a great strength of the book. A glossary of Sanskrit terms at the end is also helpful to the western reader. For anyone interested in the stories from India this is a valuable book of introduction." [1 copy available]
$ 9.49 + $ 3.39 media shipping.

THE JAPANESE ART OF WAR: Understanding the Culture of Strategy
by Thomas Cleary. Condition: NEW 1991 edition, Shambala Trade Paperback, 8th printing. Tiny, tiny edgewear. Content: Military rule and the martial tradition of the samurai have dominated Japanese culture for centuries, even to today. According to Asian philosophy translator Thomas Cleary, the Japanese people have been so steeped in the way of the warrior, this outlook remains embedded in their collective consciousness. Citing original Japanese sources, Cleary reveals the hidden forces behind Japanese attitudes and conduct. [1 copy available]
$ 6.50 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

MEDIEVAL SEAFARERS OF INDIA
by Lakshmi Subramanian. B&W maps. Condition: NEW 1999 Lotus/Roli (India) Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: Reviewer: "Medieval Seafarers attempts to explore the dimensions of Indian seafaring from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, a period of striking change and growth for the trade and traders of the Indian Ocean. The vitality and resilience of Indian seafaring, attested by both tradition and historical experience, is set against the growing colonial domination that changed the contours of the traditional maritime world. The interplay of colonial domination and indigenous enterprise found echoes in literature and popular traditions, examples of which are woven into the narrative tapestry of the book." Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 6.49 + $ 3.09 media shipping.

THE MOONLIGHT GARDEN: New Discoveries at the Taj Mahal
edited by Elizabeth Moynihan. Beautiful color photos & charts, B&W fold-outs, B&W "blueprints." Condition: NEW 2001 Univ. of Washington State Press soft cover, assumed first printing. Content: For 350 years, the Taj Mahal in Agra has reigned luminous and splendid as perhaps the most admired monument in the world. Visitors who gazed across the Yamuna River from the Taj pavilions have viewed what appears to be little more than farmers' fields and barren ground. But historical references as well as paintings from the time of Shahjahan (r. 1628-58) reveal that it was once densely covered by rectangular walled enclosures and lush vegetation. The Mughal emperor Babur built gardens here as a way of evoking the characteristic delights of the homeland he had abandoned when he moved from Central Asia into India in 1526. Eventually, as the Mughal Empire grew more powerful, the riverbank became lined with gardens belonging not only to the imperial family but also to important nobles. This definitive volume describes the discoveries of an international project documenting the surface remains of a long-abandoned Mughal garden, spectacularly located directly across the river from the Taj Mahal. The book is illustrated with new photographs of the Taj Mahal and the garden--now identified as the Mahtab Bagh, or Moonlight Garden--as well as with paintings from Shahjahan's era. Modeled after the Persian concept of earthly paradise, the pleasure gardens of 17th-century Mughal emperors exhibited elaborate renditions of cut-stone architecture, water chutes, standing pools, flowing fountains, and plantings intended to stimulate the senses. Well-ordered oases in an otherwise hot, dusty, and chaotic environment, these gardens were places of respite and enjoyment. The authors show that in plan, proportion, and directional alignment, the Moonlight Garden is indeed an integral part of the design of the gardens at the Taj Mahal, presenting an expansive new interpretation of one of the most famous buildings in the world. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 8.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

RAVEN AND THE ROCK: Storytelling in Chukotka
by Kira Van Deusen. B&W photos illustrate. Condition: NEW 1999 University of WAshington Press hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition. Content: Folklorist Van Deusen has assembled 25 legends from the oral tradition of the Chukkchi and Yupik cultures in eastern Siberia. Over centuries, native elders have captured their history, beliefs, perspectives, and morals in verbally transmitted stories handed down through generations. Like signposts, these traditional tales contain treasured truths of the past. Composed of brief vignettes, sections include stories about a young boy seeking a wife, Raven the Trickster and his merry pranks, shamanic pronouncements, and mythical fantasies. There is an implicit wisdom conveyed about living in harmony. This general anthology is a rare glimpse of varied tales from a most remote area. These are old tales retold in modern settings. Their themes reveal much about contemporary concerns at a time when native Siberians are facing extreme economic hardships. They convey the values tellers admire and wish to pass on: the courage not to give up, wisdom and loyalty, the ability to find good in what appears evil, maintenance of good relationships with animals, and a sense of humor. [1 copy available]
$ 14.49 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

THE ROMANCE OF THE MILKY WAY AND OTHER STUDIES AND STORIES
by Lafcadio Hearn. B&W decorations. Condition: Good+, c. 1974 Charles Tuttle paperback, no printing given. Small edgewear with small stain bottom pages, last 10 pages of book - pale but there. Small smudge fore edges (working on that). Content: Stories based on Japanese mythology and folklore: The Romance of the Milky Way; Goblin Poetry; "Ultimate Questions"; The Mirror Maiden' The Story of It- NORISUKÉ; Stranger Than Fiction; A Lettter From Japan; Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 3.98 + $ 2.94 media shipping.

THE SAVAGE FRONTIER: A History of the Anglo-Afghan Wars
by D. S. Richards. B&W photos and maps section. Condition: NEW 2003 Pan Books (UK) Trade Paperback, first thus, first printing. Content: Drawing from the journals o f generations of British soldiers and government officials who served on the infamous North-West Frontier in Afghanistan, Richards vividly communicates the danger and excitement confronting those engaged in bitter conflict. Covers the Victorian times on this border to the Russian invasion in 1970s. The writing could be better, but the information is interesting and important to understanding today's Afghanistan. [1 copy available]
$ 4.49 + $ 2.89 media shipping.

THE STAR RAFT: China's Encounter with Africa
by Philip Snow. B&W photo section. Condition: Gently pre-read 1988 Weidenfeld & Nicholson (London) hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), assumed first printing. Content: 75 years before Columbus crossed the Atlantic, a fleet of Chinese treasure ships came to the East African coast. The scale of this landfall was so colossal that it makes the Genoese explorer look like an amateur. The fleet was called the Star Raft, and its arrival marked the beginning of formal contacts between China and Africa. For Snow the Star Raft is also a metaphor for the great descents made by China on Africa in our own time. During the last 30 years the Chinese have worked to nudge Africa out from the European shadow, and have challenged both Western and Soviet interests in independent African states. As the Western tide recedes, the early contacts are being renewed and strengthened. This book is an important one in light of the shifting alliances in the so-called Third World countries and the ever active Chinese government. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 8.59 + $ 3.29 media shipping.

TALES OF TEARS AND LAUGHTER: Short Fiction of Medieval Japan
translated by Virginia Skord. B&W era manuscript drawings illustrate. Condition: NEW 1991 University of Hawaii Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: These stories open the door on an entire world that is unfamiliar to us in some ways but very familiar in others, filled with wonderous objects and events and common objections turned wondrous. Ms. Skord has performed impressive research, translating from unannotated texts and seeking out illustrations from the original manuscript scrolls. 13 stories. [1 copy available]
$ 6.95 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

THE TANGRAM BOOK: The Story of the Chinese Puzzle With Over 200 Puzzles to Solve
by Jerry Slocum. Color photographs, designs, and puzzles illustrate. Condition: NEW 2004 Sterling oversized softcover, first printing. Content: This first truly comprehensive and beautiful volume on one of the world’s most popular and intriguing puzzles is an authoritative, lavishly photographed history of tangrams, and also a masterful introduction to puzzle solving, with more than 2,000 all-time tangrams. This accurate history of the classic Chinese art form comes from a tangram museum owner and his research team, who discovered many treasures, such as the tangram sets used by Chinese mathematicians 2,200 years ago to test Pythagorean theorems. Photos show how to arrange tangram-shaped antique dinner tables for a variety of themes such as mountain ranges and celebration costumes. Among the puzzles for you to solve: Paradoxical Pairs that appear to be identical but differ in a hard-to-detect detail. Excellent gift item. [1 copy available]
$ 8.29 + $ 3.19 media shipping.

WILD SWANS: Three Daughters of China
by Jung Chang. B&W photo section. Condition: UNREAD 1992 Anchor Books Trade Paperback edition, 37th printing. Small edgewear with light tanning to page edges. Content: Three remarkable women--grandmother, mother, and daughter--struggle to survive in a true-life saga that spans 20th-century China with all its violence: wars, invasions, revolution, and continuing upheaval. A thrilling adventure story, Wild Swans is an important work of history, and a breathtaking testimony to the human spirit. 16 pages of photographs. [1 copy available]
$ 8.29 + $ 3.49 media shipping.

YEAR OF THE HORSE (Legends & Lore series)
by Nigel Suckling. Beautiful color illustrations by Wayne Anderson. Condition: Gently pre-read, if at all, 2002 Barnes & Noble padded hardcover (pictorial boards - no DJ issued), first printing. Tiny "ding" top back cover edge. Content: What does Chinese astrology have to say about the horse? This elegantly, stunningly illustrated combination of myth, folktale, and classic literature gives those with no prior knowledge of the subject a practical means of finding their own profile. Dip into a treasure trove of information that will help you determine your birth sign and interpret the significance of the horse in China. Always prized for their own sakes, and as tokens of wealth and strength, horses also symbolize the state's military readiness. Here are equines associated with different elements, with the positive and negative qualities, and associated planets: the charming water horse, for example is adaptable, communicative, and empathetic, but also inconsistent and restless. Throughout, ancient quotations from sages such as Lao Tzu present a range of views on this most important animal. "Plus": the key to happiness for the sign of the horse and predictions for the sign! Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 7.49 + $ 3.49 media shipping.

YEAR OF THE DRAGON (Legends & Lore series)
by Nigel Suckling. Beautiful color illustrations by Wayne Anderson. Condition: NEW 2000 Barnes & Noble padded hardcover (pictorial boards - no DJ issued), first printing. Content: In China, the image of the five-toed golden dragon appears everywhere--in all celebrations and major feasts, on banners, ships, roof gables, embroidered on silk and glazed onto ceramics. Through legends and lush images, take a unique foray into the dragon-laden landscape of Chinese culture. Not only does this collection feature classic folktales, it also uncovers some new dragon lore from the far-flung corners of the empire. Illustrations compare the Chinese dragon with Asian creatures, such as the Japanese Netsuke unicorn, and reveal various facts of the dragon's personality. Delve into the astrology, where the dragon is unique in being the one animal in the zodiac credited with supernatural powers. Find out why being born in the dragon's year is particularly lucky and what qualities--from flamboyance and charisma to a strong temper and laziness--are associated with the sign. This will stir the imagination of readers everywhere. Lovely gift book. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
$ 9.00 + $ 3.49 media shipping.