[Book, inscribed by the author.] Reminiscences of a Japanese Penologist. Akira Masaki, President, Japanese Correctional Association. [Including a description of the Hiroshima explosion, and 'A Brief Biographical Note on the Author by Taro Ogawa'.]

ii + 133pp., 8vo. Photographic portrait of the author as frontispiece. Fair, in lightly-worn blue leatherette binding, gilt. Inscription in English on front free endpaper: 'To National Committee for the Abolition of Capital Punishment, from Akir [sic] Masaki L.L.D. | 12. 22. 1969'. In a three-page 'Preface to the English Edition', dated July 1964, the author explains that the Japanese edition of the book was first published nineteen years before. 'I decided, therefore, to write of Japan's humanistic achievements in the field I knew best - the field of penology - and to present through my eyes and my life experiences the progress we made in the twentieth century. | I completed that work shortly before I began the practice of law as an attorney in 1946.' The author was appointed Chief Public Prosecutor of the Hiroshima Appeal Court in March 1945, and the book contains a first-hand account of the atomic explosion, with a moving description of his daughter's death, in a section titled 'Hiroshima on the Day of the Atomic Bombing'. Other sections include 'The Hill Mikasa and Nara Penitentiary', 'Mr Kamesaburo Yamashita and My Interview Examination', 'Torture Instruments Exhibition Hall and Reformatory Boat', 'The Kaiten-maru Wrecked', 'Abolition of Underground Prison Labour' and 'The Teijin Case and the Incident of the Leather Belt''. Scarce: six copies on WorldCat, the only one in the English-speaking world being at the British Library. COPAC only lists the British Library copy.