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Fuonso^zu Eiwajii" was first published in 1873 by Shibata masakichi and Koyasu Takashi. And, 9 years later, its second edition, "Zo^ho^teise Eiwajii", followed in 1882. These two editions of dictionary are acknowledged as the most authentic work in the Meiji period. This is just because several other editions, as well as their publishing circumstances, have been still hidden in a veil of mystery though they were undoubtedly published in different versions over the whole period of Meiji. This paper, which is groundwork for more systematic bibliographical exploration about the two editions of dictionary, is a report on my research on two versions of collections, the central library’s collection at Waseda University and the Japanese Diet Library’s collection.
It seems that the first and the second edition of "Eiwajii", two volumes of which are in the central library’s keeping at Waseda University, are of the same print, though they are witnessed with some pages missing and their binding condition is in a different shape. By contrast, The Japanese Diet Library preserves an assortment of the first edition, "Fuonso^zu Eiwaji". These assorted versions were all published and sold with reference to Nishusha publis hing company’s version of "Fuonso^zu Eiwaji". Nevertheless, their editing condition turns out to be differentin that they each reduced pages in a unique way by editing 2 columns to 3 columns or dropping illustrations, or such. It seems that this kind of editing at that time was for the general public to access the dictionary, "Fuonso^zu Eiwaji", which was very expensive in the Meiji period and available mostly to a limited class of wealthy people. The dictionary was high-priced and yet popular due to its rich amount of vocabulary as an English-Japanese dictionary. So, the editing seems to reflect the publishing companies’ efforts that called for the general public to buy the dictionary, "Fuonso^zu Eiwaji" by newly editing it and lowering its price.
This study is limited to the central library’s collection at Waseda University and the Japanese Diet Library’s collection. Hereafter, I will further launch a thorough and systematic bibliographical research on "Eiwajii" (first and second edition),the most authentic English-Japanese dictionary in the Meiji period, in addition to a research on a process of change in its Japanese translations.