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‎Abacus. - Japanese wood block print book on mathematics with the japanese abacus (Soroban). ‎

‎ s.d. (early 19th c.) lg. in-8vo (21.5x 15.5 cm) 10 leaves of japanese washi paper (first and last leaf glued to the covers and only printed on one side), wood block prints show 2 abacuses with indications on each page, illustrations on the first (14 rats in 2 columns) and last page (men walking or dancing around a pool with 2 men in the background), thin pages with slightly wrinkled corners, worm traces throughout on top of page (outside the print), original japanese paperbound, worn with small patches of the colored paper missing, some writing on the back cover still readable. ‎

‎The soroban, the Japanese version of the abacus, is still in use in Japan today. It was made popular in the early Edo period (16th c.) by mathematicians like M ri Shigeyoshi or Yoshida Mitsuyoshi (1598-1672). The latter wrote the famous arithmetic book ,Jinkouki’, that shows the use of the soroban. A lot of similar books in the same style were published like the present volume until the end of the 19th c. The illustration at the end shows a man in samurai attire and with the traditional hairknot using a soroban. Image disp.‎