「内容見本」の季節

明治期以降の成立過程と「読み物」的受容

抄録

    A "Naiyou-Mihon" is a promotional pamphlet that announces the publication of a large-volume books, such as a complete work or a series of books. In Japan, they were distributed in large quantities during the "The Boom of One-Yen Complete Collection (Enpon-Boom)" of the 1920s and the period of rapid economic growth after World War II. The technological and social circumstances surrounding media development have not been fully explored. The purpose of this paper is not to derive a theory about an author or work from what was written in each pamphlet. Instead, we seek to clarify the establishment process and the medium specificity of the "Naiyou-Mihon" itself. In this paper, we examined the establishment process of Naiyou-Mihon by analyzing newspaper articles and pamphlets from the Meiji era and beyond.

    It became clear that the Naiyou-Mihon appeared in the early 1880s against the background of the establishment of a Publication by subscription. It worked as a guidebook for readers living in local area how to make purchase. Initially, the term "Naiyou-Mihon" was not used commonly, and it did not appear in the newspaper until the 1910s. Later, in the Taisho period (1912-1926), the format (i.e., celebrity endorsements, specimen pages, and binding photographs) became fixed, and through the popularity of complete works of literature, it became widely known. Later, in the early Showa period, the term "Naiyou-Mihon" appeared in newspaper advertisements and was distributed in large quantities as a means of advertising.

    Then, how were these items accepted? In general, "Naiyou-Mihon" are not preserved by public institutions, but are disposable: ephemera in nature. However, we found that certain readers who considered these media as "reading material" and used it as a tool for literary education and edification as well.