Condition. The book is in Good+ condition. The spine covering is gone. The covers are soiled, particularly along the edges. The corner tips are rubbed and chipped. The text block is solid. There is a signature and date (1912) on the title page. There are four manuscript entries in the daily notes section (Mar 2, Jun 18, Oct 21 and Dec 23). These entries appear to be names. For an example, click here.

Lloyd, A. (1852-1911) (Translations)
Atsuko Saisho and others (Poems):
A Birth-day Book of Japanese Verse, Old and New, by Many Authors, Tokyo, Shimbi Shoin, 1910, large 12mo (4 7/8 x 7 3/4 in - 12.1 x 19.6 cm), off-white cloth covered boards, front cover decorated in color, back cover has the Shimbi Shoin seal in white, double page hosho paper pages (pages joined at the fore-edge - not folded pages), very thin cloth spine covering, all edges gilt, ca 100 pages).

The spin is wide (1 in - 28 cm) and the covering it is very thin. As a general rule the spine covering is broken or missing entirely. The text block is also often split/broken. All in all, a rather fragile book that does not age well.

I presume that the calendar is for 1910. However, since days of the week are not stated, it is impossible to say positively. The year 1910 was a non-leap year and the calendar shows 28 days in February. The next leap year was 1912.

Format:

Month Page
   Left Page - Text with month & poem
   Right Page - Woodblock print

Daily Page (3-4 days per page)
   Left Page - Woodblock in margin (same for each month) & a poem for each day
   Right Page - Numbered black spaces for daily annotations

 
For more information on Shimbi Shoin and books published by that firm, click here.