Permanent exhibition
Some of rare books are exhibited in 1st floor. No entrance fee required.
Contents
【Rare books】
※The exhibits may change at each occasion.
Pflanzenphysiologie (W. Pfeffer) 1881 Leipzig 2 vols
Dr. W. Pfeffer, professor of Leipzig University. His work on osmotic pressure made him a pioneer in the study of plant physiology.
This book had been a standard textbook for many years. These volumes are bound in special manner with one side being blank. There are innumerable handwritten notes on blank sides and in the margins made by Pfeffer himself in preparation for the second edition. You can trace the development of his own research as well as the history of plant physiology.
Opera Omnia (M. Malpighi) 1687 Leiden
Etudes sur La Biere (L. Pasteur) 1876 Paris
The Power of Movement in Plants (C. R. Darwin) 1880 London
C. Darwin wrote this book when he was 71, 2 years before his death, and this copy was given to Dr. Pfeffer. In those days Dr. Pfeffer was 35, a young promising scholar. On the title page we can make out a few words “From the author with much respect”
The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms : with observations of their habits (C. R. Darwin) 1881 London
This book is the last work of C. Darwin. On the title page we can make out a few words “From the author with kind regards and much respect”
Physiotypia Plantarum Austriacarum (C. V. Ettinghausen&A. Pokorny) 1873 Prague 12vols
Phytanthoza-Iconographia(J. W. Weinmann) 1737-1745 Regensburg 4 vols
Honzouzufu(Kanen Iwasaki) republished 1916-1922 Tokyo 95 vols
Konyomanroku(Konyo Aoki) 1763, 1766 8 vols
Bansyokou(Konyo Aoki) 1735, 1769 republished 1840 3 vols
Konyou Aoki was born in Edo (Tokyo) and studies Jugaku (Confucianism) in Kyoto. He had been no more than a teacher of a Terakoya (small private elementary school) in Edo. But when a serious famine occurred in Japan in 1732, he collected information on sweet potato and published “Bansho-kou (蕃藷考 Studies on the sweet potato)“ in 1735. In the book he urged cultivation of sweet potato which is easily grown even in a year of poor harvests and therefore useful to relieve famine. Then sweet potatoes saved many people from hunger.
Shogun Yoshimune (吉宗) selected Konyou as a practical scientist for his
contribution. He got the nickname of “Sweet potato professor” and rose
in fame by leaps and bounds. Yoshimune also ordered him to take up Western
studies and Konyou became one of the pioneers of Western studies in Japan.