C.G. Jung THE RED BOOK Liber Novus Plates Illustration book

Product Description

C.G. Jung's Liber Novus, commonly known as The Red Book, remained unpublished for decades. It was released globally as a large-format facsimile edition on October 7, 2009, with a Japanese edition — 赤の書, published by Sogensha (創元社) — following within about a year, on June 26, 2010. The Japanese editions are edited by Sonu Shamdasani, the same scholar who edited the English-language Norton edition, with the Japanese translation supervised by Jungian analyst Toshio Kawai (河合俊雄) of Kyoto University, together with Yasuhiro Tanaka (田中康裕), Reiko Takatsuki (高月玲子), and Takeshi Inomata (猪股剛).

The original facsimile reproduces Jung's own leather-bound notebook at its full size, A3 format. As a physical reference point, the English-language Norton edition of the same facsimile measures approximately 12 × 15.7 in, about 1.8 in thick, and weighs roughly 10 lbs. Since both language editions reproduce the same physical manuscript, this gives a sense of the scale involved. A volume of that size, while striking to look at, is not especially convenient to read or store.

In response, Sogensha released a more compact Japanese text edition, 赤の書［テキスト版］("Text Edition"), on August 19, 2014 — five years after the original 2009 global facsimile release. That edition (A5, 688 pages, ISBN 978-4-422-11577-1) carries the text, introduction, and notes from the original facsimile in a portable format, but does not include Jung's illustrations.

About This Edition: 赤の書［図版版］ (The Red Book [Illustrated Edition])

This listing is for the companion volume to the Text Edition: 赤の書［図版版］, published by Sogensha on January 25, 2018. Per Sogensha's own product description, this edition contains "図版のみを納めたもの" (the plates only), in the same trim size and format as the Text Edition, so that the two volumes together reconstruct the content of the original oversized facsimile. Its contents follow the same two-part structure as Jung's manuscript: Liber Primus (第一の書) and Liber Secundus (第二の書).

Please note this is a Japanese-language import. Any front matter, colophon, or captions in this book are in Japanese. The plates themselves are photographic reproductions of Jung's original artwork and calligraphy from the Red Book manuscript — image content rather than text requiring translation — so reading Japanese is generally not required to view them. However, buyers expecting an English-text book should be aware that this is a Sogensha (Japanese) publication, not the W.W. Norton English-language edition. This edition's exact contents beyond the plates and standard front matter are not publicly documented, so it is best described conservatively as containing primarily image plates.

Sogensha positions this Illustrated Edition as usable on its own for readers who want to view Jung's artwork, or alongside the separately-sold Text Edition for readers who want the full reading text. On its own, this Illustrated Edition does not include the original text, introduction, or notes — those appear only in the companion Text Edition (赤の書［テキスト版］).

The Red Book is widely regarded among Jung scholars as an important work for understanding the origins of his later theoretical ideas.

Product Specification

• Product: 赤の書［図版版］ (The Red Book [Illustrated Edition])
• Author: C.G. Jung
• Editor: Sonu Shamdasani
• Japanese translation supervision: Toshio Kawai (河合俊雄), with Yasuhiro Tanaka (田中康裕), Reiko Takatsuki (高月玲子), and Takeshi Inomata (猪股剛)
• Publisher: Sogensha (創元社)
• Publication date: January 25, 2018
• ISBN: 978-4-422-11675-4
• Format: A5 (210 × 148 mm), softcover
• Pages: 224
• Language: Japanese front matter and any captions; plates are photographic reproductions of Jung's original artwork and calligraphy
• Contents structure: Liber Primus (第一の書) and Liber Secundus (第二の書)
• Companion volume (sold separately): 赤の書［テキスト版］, Sogensha, August 19, 2014, A5, 688 pages, ISBN 978-4-422-11577-1
• Sogensha's Japanese list price at release: ¥5,500 (reference only)