THE BOOKS ON BONSAI
AND RELATED ARTS

(bonsai, bonseki, bonkei, saikei, penjing, pentsai, suiseki)

 
 

These lists have been compiled from volumes actually seen by RJB, reviews and ads and listings in the assorted bonsai magazines, bibliographies in the various books, The National Union Catalog, Books In Print, various Web sites including Library of Congress Online Catalog, USDA Library Online (AGRICOLA Catalog), County of Los Angeles Public Library Online, Amazon.com, Google Book Search, and the individuals noted below.
Most exhibition albums are not included due to their annual -- and, arguably, less unique -- nature.

Some readers might disagree with the range of art forms included herein (or the inclusion herein of several booklets.)  While bonsai is the most recognized and practiced of this family, it does share many features with the others.  Some practitioners of bonsai are also practitioners of one or more of the other art forms.  A common philosophical origin unites all of these magical miniature landscapes. 

To facilitate locating books on the various art forms herein, the following color coding has been adopted throughout:

Subject Code:   penjing/Chinese school , viewing stones and suiseki , bonkei , saikei ,
indoor , bonsai/Japanese school 

It is acknowledged that some degree of arbitrariness is involved.  Generally, if one of the first five above
art forms or styles is included in the title or is known by RJB to be significantly included in the work,
then the entire entry for that title is colored other than black. 

Please note that this is an ongoing project.   ISBN-10 and -13s are being gotten from listings at Amazon.com.  As of 07/13/2003 we are now adding the text of dedications and original pricing.  "Original cover price" is the amount actually seen by RJB on a first edition work.  "Original ad. price" means the price listed during the year of publication or during the following year only in either a book review, book club ad, or as otherwise advertised.
 If you know of any additions or corrections or have any comments,
please e-mail  rjb@phoenixbonsai.com .

Specific thanks, so far, to 
Peter Aradi, Hoe Chuan, Chris Cochrane, Craig and Anita Cowing, Herb Gustafson, Craig J. Hunt, John Romano, William N. Valavanis, and Alan Walker for their assistance.

And very special thanks to George T. Cole, Jr., his wife Nobuyo, and her sister Hiroko Shinozaki of Fukuoka, Japan for their translations and thoughts on a large number of the Japanese titles (only 1850-1949 and 1950-1999 A-J have been entered thus far). 


 

FIRST EDITION PUBLICATION DATE

pre-1800

1800 - 1849

1850 - 1899

1900 - 1949

1950 - 1999
AUTHORS  A - J
AUTHORS  K - N
AUTHORS  O - Z

2000 - 2049
 
 
THE ONLINE BOOKS

SOME OTHER SOURCES FOR THESE BOOKS
 
 

Some of the Book Covers can be seen at
http://www.yamadori-bonsai.info/Putz_Buch.html
and
http://www.usm.edu.ec/abedini/asbonsai/libros/biblioteca.html  


 

An Analysis of the Titles Herein

As of 03/05/08, there were some 1,063 titles for non-periodical works on the above related topics listed in this section in 24 different languages.  "Titles" are either original editions, including a few private printings but very few exhibition catalogs; significantly revised editions; or translations.

While this list is not complete, as the most comprehensive gathering of titles in our field to date, an analysis of its range is enlightening.

25 (2.4%) of these works were published before the year 1800,
16 (1.5%) are from 1800-1899,
53 (5.0%) are from 1900-1949,
782 (73.5%) are from 1950-1999,
and 187 (17.6%) so far are year 2000+.

344 (32.3%) of all the works listed are in English,
259 (24.4%) are in Japanese,
127 (11.9%) are in Chinese,
75 (7.1%) are in Spanish,
71 (6.7%) are in German,
52 (4.9%) are in Italian,
51 (4.8%) are in French,
and 84 (7.9%) are in 17 other languages -- at least one each in Afrikaans, Bulgarian, Catalan, Czech (6), Danish (4), Dutch (17), Finnish, Hungarian, Indonesian (4), Korean (19), Polish (9), Portuguese (6), Russian (3), Swedish (2), Tamil, Thai and Vietnamese (7).

For the 38 (3.6%) works containing significant amounts of text in two or more languages, the titles were counted under the first language listed only.

With the recognition that a few of these books may have been arbitrarily put into the following categories,
749 (70.5%) of all the works listed are about bonsai,
126 (11.8%) are about or include significant amounts of material on penjing,
120 (11.3%) are about or include significant amounts of material on viewing stones,
33 (3.1%) are about or include significant amounts of material on indoor dwarf potted plants,
18 (1.7%) are about or include significant amounts of material on saikei (living landscapes),
and 17 (1.6%) are about or include significant amounts of material on bonkei (non-living landscapes).

809 (76.1%) of these works are listed as having a single author,
144 (13.5%) are listed with two specific authors,
20 (1.9%) are listed with three or more authors,
and 90 (8.5%) are listed without any author.

Books listed as by an "association" or by the otherwise nonspecific "editors" of a publisher have been arbitrarily counted here as having only one author.

The most prolific author/"translatee" thus far listed here is Paul Lesniewicz.  He has eighteen (18) single author entries and one (1) more as a co-author.  Keiji Murata is in second place with thirteen (13) single author entries and six (6) more as a co-author.  Japanese author/illustrator Kyosuke Gun is in close third place.  He has twelve (12) single author entries and six (6) more as a co-author. 

Future analyses will also include percentage of total works being translations into at least one other language.

As more books are added, the above numbers will be adjusted.

At any time, RJB has at least half a dozen possible additional titles which have not yet been added for various reasons, including confirmation of subject.

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