Herrigel ZEN IN THE ART OF ARCHERY 1st/1st HCDJ 1953

First published in 1948, in Germany, Zen in the Art of Archery is responsible for introducing Europe and America to Zen philosophy. Many of the ideas in the book have become fundamental tenets of how Westerners view Zen Buddhism. The book was translated into English in 1953 (this copy being the first edition) and into Japanese in 1955.

The title "Zen in the Art of Archery" inspired a series of other titles. More than 200 books now have similar titles, including Robert Pirsig's 1974 widely popular book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and more recently Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing, as well as Zen and the Art of Poker, Zen and the Art of Knitting, and Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating, and so on. The common theme is usually that doing an ordinary task, such as fixing your motorcycle, can have a spiritual dimension.

A remarkably clean and crisp volume in sage boards and linen spine with a Japanese bow and crossed arrows embossed on the front board. The volume presents a very fresh appearance with sharp corners and bright, unrubbed green spine titles. The book is so firm and tight, it would be judged "unread" were it not for a few underlined words and neatly penned notes in the margins of a few of the pages. The front free endpaper bears a Japanese stamp with "San Ka" written in and there is some bleedthrough toning of the endpaper gutters (see scanned images). Otherwise this is a fine volume with bright pages with no tears or creases or dogears whatsoever. The dustjacket (now in a protective mylar sleeve) is NOT price-clipped and bears a few small chips at the corners and at the spine's extremities (see scanned images). A very handsome, sound and desirable copy of this landmark work.