Author:
Title: Strait Gate to the Kingdom of Westen Knowledge. [Seisoku Eigo Hitoriannai].
Description: Osaka, Aoki Suzando 1886 (Meiji 19). 19x13cm publisher's printed boards and cloth spine; with an illustrated section on the mouth and sounds of speech. Outer pages browned, some blotches and marks but pretty good for such a vulnerable book. ¶ Third edition, revised and expanded according to the overprinting at the top of the cover and title page; it first appeared the year before. Standard English based on Webster; so of course, to the properly educated, this is not standard English but American.This is a 'ball cover' (boru hyoshi) book - a signal of modernity and the Japanese equivalent of a yellowback: flimsy western style bindings with lithograph covers that rarely survive in decent shape. Note that it opens right to left.

Keywords: social sciences education language linguistics English grammar Japan c19th boru ball cover