Welcome to Asia Bookroom
This Month at Asia Bookroom
With the western New Year just begun, and the Chinese Year of the Dragon not far off, it is an opportune time to work through some of the interesting collections that we have bought that but have not had time yet to process.
During January we intend to begin cataloguing and listing books from a
scholarly Japanese library, an interesting Thailand related library and more work will be completed on a large Chinese library that we have been working on for some time now. As any book dealer will attest it takes time to do justice to these older libraries. Each book needs to be carefully checked for completeness, researched, accurately described and at least one image taken. Not a quick job but one which is necessary to make sure that the high standards we aspire to are maintained.
We are also looking forward to being the venue for the
launch of Humour in Chinese Life and Letters: Classical and Traditional Approaches edited by sisters Professor Jocelyn Chey and Dr Jessica Milner Davis. Professor Geremie Barmé will launch this book on February the 2nd. Have a look at our
events page for all the details.
Just a small selection of the new arrivals.....
Interested in keeping up to date with our ever changing selection of books old and new on Asia? Join one or more of our many Asian lists. Just visit our
list subscription page.
12 Chinese Animals. Create Harmony in Your Daily Life Through Ancient Chinese Wisdom.
WU, ZHONGXIAN.
AU$25.95
Colour photographic illustrations, 190 pages, dustjacket. The Chinese horoscope holds the key to a better understanding of self and others, and to living a life of harmony. Not just the year of birth, but also the month, day and hour have significance in true Chinese astrology. Master Zhongxian Wu explains how to find your power animal symbols, and how to learn from their wisdom. By fully understanding what each animal signifies, and how they relate to the major hexagrams of the Yijing, he shows that they can help you to find inner peace and live in harmony with family, friends, the wider community, and with nature. Using the wisdom of the twelve animal symbols as a guide, you will learn how to better understand your personality, and make choices that profoundly influence your health, relationships, career, and finances, allowing you to live up to your greatest potential. Making the wisdom of the twelve Chinese animals accessible to the Western reader for the first time in its relationship with the Yijing, this book will be an illuminating read for anyone interested in understanding themselves and their life patterns better, Chinese astrology, and the Yijing. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 136840)
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Stock ID: 136840
1Q84. Book 1, 2 and 3.
MURAKAMI, HARUKI.
AU$39.95
924 pages, dustjacket. "Murakami is like a magician who explains what he's doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers . . . But while anyone can tell a story that resembles a dream, it's the rare artist, like this one, who can make us feel that we are dreaming it ourselves." --"The New York Times Book Review"
" "
The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.
A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver's enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 --"Q is for 'question mark.' A world that bears a question." Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.
As Aomame's and Tengo's narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.
A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell's--"1Q84" is Haruki Murakami's most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 136971)
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Stock ID: 136971
50 Indian Film Classics.
RAGHAVENDRA, M.K.
AU$27.99
Black and white photographic illustrations, xxxvi + 321 pages, index, paperback. An eclectic collection of essays by the winner of the National Award Swarna Kamal for Best Film Critic 1997. With more than a thousand films produced annually in over fifteen languages India is acknowledged as the largest producer of motion pictures in the world. 50 Indian Film Classics provides detailed critical accounts of the most important Indian films beginning with Prem Sanyas (1925) to Rang De Basanti (2006) in languages ranging from Bengali and Hindi to Manipuri and Malayalam and representing a whole gamut of themes: from the 1930s mythological Sant Tukaram to the politically radical Calcutta ′71, from art-house favourites like Uski Roti and Mukhamukham to blockbusters like Sholay and Lagaan. These perceptive essays introduce the reader to the many moods that inform Indian cinema, the austerity of Pather Panchali, the lavishness of Hum Aapke Hain Koun...!, the solemnity of Samskara and the fun and frolic of Amar Akbar Anthony. Illustrated with rare posters and stills this is an invaluable guide to the most significant cinema India has ever produced. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 137030)
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Stock ID: 137030
An Upland Community in Transition. Institutional Innovations for Sustainable Development in Rural Philippines.
ROLA, AGNES C.
AU$23.95
Maps, xxiii + 235 pages, paperback. over Southeast Asia, rural communities are in transition to a sustainable status. This book explores how an environmentally fragile upland community in the rural Philippines coped with and responded to economic and environmental tensions brought about by a globalized economy and decentralization. This in turn gave rise to local power especially in the management of natural resources. Time-series farm and household-level data of the study community characterized upland development in the Philippines during the turn of the twenty-first century. Farmer stories on how land-use decisions were affected by economic policies and environmental stresses were told and documented. As the tension between the economy and the environment exhibit both predicted and unforeseen changes, this book suggests institutional innovations, promoting a greater understanding of sustainable rural development in the developing world. Co-published with the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), Laguna, Philippines.Back to top (When referring to this item please quote stockid 137027)
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Stock ID: 137027
Chinese Ceramics. Discovering China.
WEI, JI.
AU$39.95
Colour photographic illustrations, 144 pages, small octavo, dustjacket. Chinese ceramics, a form of fine art dating back to the primitive days, range from construction materials such as bricks and tiles, hand-built pottery vessels fired in bonfires or kilns, to the sophisticated porcelain wares made for the imperial court. An illustrated history, this book introduces ceramics in a chronological way, starting from the ancient times all the way to the Qing dynasty. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 132791)
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Stock ID: 132791
Chinese Festivals
WEI, LIMING
AU$24.95
Colour photographic illustrations, 139pp, paperback. Introductions to Chinese Culture series. One of the most distinctive features of Chinese culture is the great variety of unique festivals that has evolved over the course of China's long history. Chinese festivals are deeply rooted in popular tradition and despite China's many changes they remain firmly established as part of the country's vibrant culture. Chinese Festivals introduces a representative selection of these celebrated traditions with full color illustrations, providing a flavor of the diversity and development of traditional Chinese culture. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 137144)
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Stock ID: 137144
Culture of the Book in Tibet
SCHAEFFER, KURTIS R.
AU$64.00
xiii + 244pp, references, index, dustjacket. The history of the book in Tibet involves more than literary trends and trade routes. Functioning as material, intellectual, and symbolic object, the book has been an instrumental tool in the construction of Tibetan power and authority, and its history opens a crucial window onto the cultural, intellectual, and economic life of an immensely influential Buddhist society. Spanning the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries, Kurtis R. Schaeffer envisions the scholars and hermits, madmen and ministers, kings and queens who produced Tibet's massive canons. He describes how Tibetan scholars edited and printed works of religion, literature, art, and science and what this indicates about the interrelation of material and cultural practices. The Tibetan book is at once the embodiment of the Buddha's voice, a principal means of education, a source of tradition and authority, an economic product, a finely crafted aesthetic object, a medium of Buddhist written culture, and a symbol of the religion itself. Books stood at the center of debates on the role of libraries in religious institutions, the relative merits of oral and written teachings, and the economy of religion in Tibet.
A meticulous study that draws on more than 150 understudied Tibetan sources, The Culture of the Book in Tibet is the first volume to trace this singular history. Through a single object, Schaeffer accesses a greater understanding of the cultural and social history of the Tibetan plateau. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 137152)
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Stock ID: 137152
Delhi Calm.
GHOSH, VISHWAJYOTI.
AU$35.00
Black and white and two-colour graphic illustrations, 248 pages, paperback. Imagine living the way the State tells you to-being told how, where and when to laugh, live or love. Imagine constant surveillance-all your acts, words, thoughts watched, all forms of expression subverted for the purpose of nation-building. 'Work More, Talk Less', yell microphones as you walk down the streets...But do not worry-Delhi is still calm. It is the India of the mid-1970s. Three young men with vastly different perspectives, but all dreaming of 'change', cross paths during this time. Do they sink as individuals or swim as a collective? Was William Penn right to say that 'Democracy dies in the hearts of democrats, before it dies in the hands of a dictator'? Find out in Vishwajyoti Ghosh's powerful graphic re-imagining of one of the most seminal moments in the history of Indian democracy. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 137036)
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Stock ID: 137036
Five Blessings. Coded Messages in Chinese Art.
NIKLES VAN OSSELT, ESTELLE.
AU$76.00
(WAS
AU$110.00)
Colour photographic illustrations, bibliography, annexes, quarto, paperback. When any Westerner looks at Chinese art, it is immediately apparent how much the depiction of animal and plant life in artistic decoration differs from its American or European equivalent. This exceptional world teems with flowers, trees, birds, fish, shellfish, and insects, mixed with fantastic creatures or figures taken from legend and mythology. Various motifs can appear together in one scene, and if the viewer understands the language, the images are charged with symbolism. Chinese decoration can even include concealed word-play, and all of this must be understood if Chinese decorative arts are to be fully appreciated. This new book explores this rich symbolism with research and insights never before published outside of China, casting new light on the treasures of the world-renowned Baur Foundation collections. Works of ceramic, jade, lacquer, glass, and silk are examined, all with varied decorations that are now fully revealed and displayed in all their subtlety, and meanings that until now have been hidden are brought to light. With a detailed study of all the motifs used, readers finally have access to a cultural heritage that has been too long obscured from Western eyes. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 135529)
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Stock ID: 135529
Korean Treasures Rare Books, Manuscripts and Artefacts in the Bodleian Libraries and Museums of Oxford University
CHUNG, MINH
AU$89.95
82 colour illustrations Many important and valuable manuscripts, rare books, and artefacts related to Korea have been acquired by donations throughout the long history of the Bodleian Library and the museums of the University of Oxford. However, due to an early lack of specialist knowledge in this area, many of these Korean items were largely neglected. This publication uncovers these treasures and presents them together in a single volume for the first time. Notable items include the court painting scroll of the funeral procession of King Yongjo ?? (1694-1776); a presentation edition of a book given by King Yongjo to his son-in-law; a group of documents issued by Emperor Kojong ?? (1852-1919) between 1885 and 1886 to confer various titles to his civil and military officials; a sundial made by the famous maker Kang Yun ?? (1830-98) for Emperor Kojong; a ceramic dish made and signed by Princess Yi Pangja ??? (1901-89) as well as a rare example of a suit of armour, an ornate helmet of the early sixteenth century, a general's quiver and arrows, and many more.
In addition, this book also gives a general overview of the extent of the Korean book collections in Oxford and locations where some of these treasures can be seen. (When referring to this item please quote stockid 137053)
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Stock ID: 137053
What is Asia Bookroom?
Asia Bookroom is a leading Asian bookselling specialist. We have a large stock of books, old and new, ephemera, antique maps and prints on China, Japan, India, Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma/Myanmar, Laos, Sri Lanka/Ceylon, Malaysia, Singapore, Timor Leste, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Himalayan region including Tibet and Central Asia. We stock books on all of these areas - and many Asian themes and topics - for example cookery and food, religion and philosophy, Asian art and many more. We also carry a large range of children's books on Asia. Browse our site and subscribe to our mailing list for updates of new books as they arrive.
