THE ZEN KOAN: ITS HISTORY AND USE IN RINZAI ZEN. [SIGNED

First edition. Original grey buckram cloth-covered boards with gilt lettered spine. xvii, 156 pages with 10 pages of reproductions of ink drawings by Hakuin Ekaku. INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY RUTH SASAKI, Ryosen-an, Daitoku-ji, April 12, 1966. "The present work is the first scholarly examination in any language of the historical development and traditional method of koan study in Zen Buddhism." A clean, tight, near fine copy with just some light spotting on endpapers. No name, bookplate or other markings.The stiff grey paper dust jacket is printed in red and black and is near fine in a protective mylar wrap. Published simultaneously with the American Harcourt edition, this First Zen Institue printing is much scarcer. A nice copy in the scarce dust jacket.