3 Jun'ichiro Tanizaki first editions are documented on this shelf, from Some Prefer Nettles (Tade Kuu Mushi) (1955) to The Key (Kagi) (1961). Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Jun'ichiro Tanizaki title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Jun'ichiro Tanizaki copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Some Prefer Nettles (Tade Kuu Mushi) — 1955 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst US and first English-language edition, translated by Edward G. Seidensticker. Borzoi (Knopf) imprint with 'FIRST AMERICAN EDITION' stated on the copyright page and Borzoi colophon. Octavo, roughly xvii plus 202 pages, with a title-page vignette and chapter head-pieces; issued in pictorial paper-covered boards with a black-printed spine in a pictorial dust jacket. The Knopf US edition of 1955 is the first edition in English; the UK edition (Secker & Warburg, London) followed in 1956 using the same Seidensticker translation. The Japanese original was serialized 1928 to 1929. Later Berkley and Vintage International paperbacks are reprints. Confirm the true first by the 'FIRST AMERICAN EDITION' line and Borzoi colophon.
- The Makioka Sisters (Sasameyuki) — 1957 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst American edition, translated by Edward G. Seidensticker. Borzoi colophon present; copyright page and title page dated 1957, with the FIRST AMERICAN EDITION statement. Thick octavo (roughly 530 pages), bound in black cloth with embossed red paper over boards and gold spine lettering. Dust jacket priced on the front flap. The Knopf US edition of 1957 is the true first English-language edition; the UK Secker & Warburg edition followed in 1958. The Japanese original was serialized 1943-48 and issued in book form by 1948. Confirm Knopf priority via the FIRST AMERICAN EDITION statement. Later Perigee and Vintage paperbacks are reprints. A reprint will lack the Borzoi device and the dated FIRST AMERICAN EDITION line.
- The Key (Kagi) — 1961 · Alfred A. KnopfFirst US edition, translated by Howard Hibbett, with the Borzoi (Knopf) colophon and the publisher's first-edition statement on the copyright page. The competing UK edition (Secker & Warburg, London) was published the same year, 1961, in midnight-blue cloth lettered in silver with a pictorial jacket; both use the Hibbett translation. Both the Knopf US edition and the Secker & Warburg UK edition appeared in 1961. The Knopf US issue is conventionally cataloged as the first English-language edition, but because the two are the same year the priority is not absolutely settled from publication records alone; identify the US issue by the Borzoi colophon and Knopf first-edition statement. The Japanese original (Kagi) was published 1956. Later Vintage International and Perigee paperbacks are reprints.
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