Modern Japanese Swordsmiths 1868-1945 1st vs 2nd print

[Xander Chia]

Hi everyone! I hope I’m posting this in the right section. I wasn’t able to find the difference between the first printing(red) and the second printing(blue) of “Modern Japanese Swordsmiths, 1868-1945: An Oshigata Book” on Google. In fact I was hoping you guys could help point out the differences between all 3 versions. Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Xander,

An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths: 1868 – 1945.  The red cover copy lists Livio Cilio as the author and the blue has John Slough as the author; John Slough is listed as copyright holder on both books and the contents are identical.  No idea why there are 2 versions of the same book.  I'm not aware of a 3rd version; what do you know about it?

Grey

[Xander Chia]

14 hours ago, Grey Doffin said:

Hi Xander,

An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths: 1868 – 1945.  The red cover copy lists Livio Cilio as the author and the blue has John Slough as the author; John Slough is listed as copyright holder on both books and the contents are identical.  No idea why there are 2 versions of the same book.  I'm not aware of a 3rd version; what do you know about it?

Grey

How odd, I always thought the second printing had more pictures or something. Seems weird that they have such a huge price difference too. The third one I was referring to is white in colour with an image of a forge in the centre.

[francois2605]

I don't know the history of those 2 prints and I could be completely wrong but my impression was that the second print was issued because it was not possible to source the book because of the limited number of books available on the market (owners would not sell their copy). 

[16k]

19 hours ago, Grey Doffin said:

Hi Xander,

An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths: 1868 – 1945.  The red cover copy lists Livio Cilio as the author and the blue has John Slough as the author; John Slough is listed as copyright holder on both books and the contents are identical.  No idea why there are 2 versions of the same book.  I'm not aware of a 3rd version; what do you know about it?

Grey

Third edition, Grey. At least, that’s what I think it is!
 

It is a soft bound book. That’s the edition I have.

 

[celt72]

2 hours ago, 16k said:

Third edition, Grey. At least, that’s what I think it is!
 

It is a soft bound book. That’s the edition I have.

 

 

Hi JP. If you are able to post a picture of the copyright page, we should be able to determine if this one is a third printing or just a paperback version of the first or second edition. 

[16k]

There you go!

 

 

[Kiipu]

There are three impressions of John Slough's book, An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths, 1868–1945.  The original 2001 white softcover by Slough and two reprints, a 2004 blue hardcover by Slough and an unknown red softcover by Cillo.  As far as I know, they all have the same content.  I am missing the copyright pages for the two reprints so some of the information below is incomplete.

 

1. Slough, John Scott. An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths, 1868–1945. Rivanna River Company, 2001. White softcover.

2. Slough, John Scott. An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths, 1868–1945. 2004. Blue hardcover.

3. Cillo, Livio W. An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths, 1868–1945. Publication details unknown. Red softcover.

[Bruce Pennington]

This page says 2004, second printing 

[mecox]

Interesting....  is this your #2......blue hard cover, 1000 copies, 2001 Slough?

[Kiipu]

1 hour ago, mecox said:

Interesting....  is this your #2......blue hard cover, 1000 copies, 2001 Slough?

 

Yes, that is #2, the second printing in a blue hardcover, which still has Slough's name on the title page.  Below are the updated citations for the first two impressions. 

 

1. Slough, John Scott. An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths, 1868–1945. Palmyra, VA: Rivanna River Company, 2001.

[2001 first edition, white softcover, 1000 copies, ISBN 0-9707080-0-9.]

2. Slough, John Scott. An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths, 1868–1945. Darlington, MD: Livio W. (Chuck) Cillo, 2001.

[2004 second printing, blue hardcover, 1000 copies.]

[mecox]

I have found  this John Slough book both interesting and very useful and am aware of how much background checking and cross-checking is required.

But I did find a very minor error that I had to check to save confusion.

Results of 1941 6th shinsakuto exhibition for Shinoda Ujifusa and Niwa Kanehisa (pages 218, 219, 227, 233) they are listed as from "Aichi" when it should be "Gifu".

[Kiipu]

35 minutes ago, mecox said:

I have found  this John Slough book both interesting and very useful and am aware of how much background checking and cross-checking is required.

But I did find a very minor error that I had to check to save confusion.

Results of 1941 6th shinsakuto exhibition for Shinoda Ujifusa and Niwa Kanehisa (pages 218, 219, 227, 233) they are listed as from "Aichi" when it should be "Gifu".

 

There is a correction thread for this book started by Morita san some years back.  I too have found a minor translation error on one of the Kanemasa (Murata) swords.

Mr.Slough's Oshigata book.

 

FYI, I have enjoyed reading your recent articles by the way.

[GregM1]

a price difference between editions could be due to the amount of books ordered from the print company. bigger discounts with a larger order. the first copy was probably only1000 copies due to limited capitol to invest at the time.

[Kiipu]

The third and final citation.  Citation information is taken from the title page and hence Cillo is listed as the author.  Presumably this is the third printing even though it is not stated as such.

 

Cillo, Livio W. An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths, 1868–1945. Darlington, MD: Livio W. (Chuck) Cillo, 2001.

[Third printing?, red softcover, back cover has $99.95 in lower right corner.]

 

The copyright page can be found at the link below.

An Oshigata Book of Modern Japanese Swordsmiths 1868-1945

 

 

 

[Kiipu]

The link above no longer works as the thread has been deleted.  The picture can be seen below courtesy of @charlie1.

 

[Surfson]

Yes, Morita San made a complete set of corrections of many of the translations.  I think that it is available on one of the NMB links.