I should say that I am a total neophyte to online auctions. In the days leading up to the auction's close, I read about sniping and how to increase your odds of winning. There were three different auctions going on for this book, being bid on by the same buyers. I lost the first auction on the 1946 edition of this book, which also included an author's signature and a photo of the author. All the action happened in the last 15 seconds, and I was surprised in reviewing the bidding history to see a third buyer jump in from out of nowhere to increase the bidding. So I got smart on Auction No. 2 and set a maximum bid and then waited and watched with heart palpitations and the constant refreshing of pages. Didn't get sniped. Kort says it's not really winning if you are competing to be able to spend your own money. Perhaps more akin to gambling. Somewhere, I do feel that's true.
So what exactly did I purchase? We Japanese was a book written and made in Japan by multiple authors who were basically commissioned by the Fujiya Hotel to create a book that could introduce Japanese customs, cultures and rituals to Westerners. It is chock full of illustrations, hand-bound in fabric covers, and a beautiful example of the book arts. It's a very interesting piece of visual culture that will be great for anthropological research.
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