OSGOOD, Cornelius. The Koreans and their Culture. New York, The Ronald Press Company, [1951].
8vo. Original cloth with illustrated dust-wrappers; pp. xvi, 387, illustrated with plates and maps; wrappers with fading to spine and marginal flaws; otherwise a very good copy of a rare book.
First edition, first printing of this major work on the country, written by the Yale anthropologist Osgood, who had immersed himself in village life on the island of Ganghwa for several months. After a section on village life in Korea he presents a political and cultural history on the peninsula, before desribing life in the capital and the urban civilization, including life of the ruling class. Of course he can not totally avoid to describe the violent and military interventions of the first half of the 20th century. The book has become a classic on the subject and saw several reprints.
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