Original green cloth, with bright gilt letters on front and spine in the same style as the variant yellow binding. Minimal edge wear. Professionally rebacked, very solid hinges with new sendpapers. Very clean and tight inside, with no foxing or browning or prior owner marks. Printed at the Japan Gazette office in Yokohama. Volume one purlisbed in 1880; volume two in 1881. The author was a Scottish publisher, journalist and author, most of his career in Japan and China. He claims the distinction of founding the first newspaper in Japanese language, which advocated political reforms. Not surprisingly, the authorities pushed him out of the newspaper business and he settled in Shanghai. He returned to Yokohama in 1880, the year of his death. RARE, only two other copies on internet, both in Tokyo, at this writing. A few underlinings on pages 14, 16 and 17 of volume one.