Die ersten lectionen des Deutschen sprachunterrichts: im gebrauch der Deutschen anfangsclassen der Kaiserlich-Japanesischen Academie von Daïgaku-Nankō

Die Ersten Lectionen des Deutschen Sprachunterrichts: im Gebrauch der Deutschen Anfangsclassen der Kaiserlich-Japanesischen Academie von Daïgaku-Nankō

Daigaku Nankō [edited by].

Jedo [Tōkyō]: Daigaku Nankō, 1870.

The first German primer to be published in Japan, and the second German study book overall to be published in Japan (after 官版独逸単語篇 (Kanpan Doitsu Tangohen, "The Official Directory of German Words" (1862)), the first German vocabulary book). Shirooka Keiji suggests in his article "1871年刊行の大学南校のドイツ語教材について一言語的特徴から見た編著者問題を中心に一" (2006) that the handwriting used for the title was based on that of Gottfried Wagener (1831-1892), a German teacher at the Daigaku Nankō (now the University of Tokyo) from around November 1870, the year this book was published. Wagener later made notable innovations in ceramics, especially in the Arita area. In 1901, he wrote the book Japanischer Humor together with Curt Netto, a German educator employed as a lecturer on metallurgy at Tokyo Imperial University. Wagener is perhaps best remembered as the co-founder of the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

This woodblock-printed fibel (primer) for Japanese students learning German features German sounds, Latin characters, and numbers. The text has been annotated by a student, and some notes on loose paper have been inserted into the fukurotoji leaves.

On double leaves, fukurotoji style. Original wrappers, with a few small holes and marks, negligible loss to head. Light stains to first two leaves. Neat annotations to text. Ex-ownership inscriptions to recto of lower wrapper. A few almost unnoticeable wormholes to leaves. Light folds to corners. Very good to near fine overall. 1 v., complete. 8, [2], 24 pages. 28.5 x 21.1 cm. Text in German.

# 9-11

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