first edition
New York; (1988)
by Sen, Soshitsu, XV, editor and Alfred Birnbaum, Translator
New York; (1988): Weatherhill. First Edition. Quarto. viii, 170 pages,, [60] pages of plates, many in color. The Book of Tea was first published for the English-speaking world in 1906 and it brought chado (the way of tea) one of the pillars to the West. It was the fifteenth-generation Grand Tea Master Soshisu Sen of the Urasenke tradition who was convinced chanoyu would benefit humankind hence this book which shows the spiritual essence of tea and how best understood in its environment as fine tea, the host, and the guest in quiet surroundings find the meaning of the ceremony. A near fine copy bound in green silk cloth, spine lettering gilt, in near fine clipped pictorial dust jacket with minute closed tear to head and rubbing to edges near head and foot of rear joint.
(Inventory #: 025520)