Sender: Rare book and manuscripts <EXLIBRIS-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Dear Folks,
Let me second Mr. Wilkie's suggestion of the Cagle list of the
collection at Indiana, which is especially good for books in English.
I have found that when I get a 17th or 18th century German cookbook,
I must go to a German bibliography, and the same for cook books from
other countries. No one has much of a list for Japanese cook books,
for one thing, and many of them are full of uki'o'ye or Shijo
school wood block prints, often enough in color. Cagle list just a
few, and there is no other source in English which has much. If you
get one which you know is Meiji [1867-1913], and you know how to
pronounce the name and can write it in standard Western European
letters [which the Japanese call "Romaji"], then you can use the
Japanese Diet library [which has an English interface] on the net for
searching. They have the finest Japanese collection of after 1866
titles. Waseda University has the finest collection of earlier
materials, but they are more difficult to use unless you have a
little Japanese, or someone else in the library does.