An Edo Anthology features selections from literary sources produced in the late Edo period (1750–1850) organized thematically in six sections: “Playboys, Prostitutes, and Lovers”; “Ghosts, Monsters, and Deities”; “Heroes, Rogues, and Fools”; “City and Country Folks”; “Artists and Poets”; and “Tourists and Onlookers.” Virtually every genre is represented: from sentimental books (ninjōbon) to funny ones (kokkeibon), from poetry (senryū, haikai, waka) to comic sermons (dangibon), from kabuki plays to books of manners (sharebon), and more. Flipping through its pages is like entering an imaginary salon where the Who's Who of late Edo-period writers, playwrights, and poets have gathered to revisit their masterpieces: here is Shikitei Sanba ventriloquizing the idiosyncratic patrons of the downtown barbershop (The Floating World Barbershop, 1813–14), there is Santō Kyōden mocking the wannabe connoisseur of the pleasure district (Playboy, Grilled Edo Style...
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