How to Wrap Five Eggs: Traditional Japanese Packaging

The book was in excellent condition and even arrived a day early. I will enjoy it as one of many art books on a country that still values how goods are packaged and presented. The U.S. could take notice of some of their innovations.

The Japanese have raised gift and utilitarian packaging to an art form. Travelers note how they take time to carefully fold and hand over even a modest purchase such as a small bag of pastry. Quality and courtesy rule.This book features past practice through black and white photos from a now out-of-print book, updated with additions, showcasing a variety of traditional packaging. All are shown against a plain background so they stand out, more often than not just one or two items to a page. The pages are uncluttered by text yet commentary on each page is easily accessed at the back of the book. I love Japanese objects so I like this book. Favorites are a set of ten shrimp tied in straw, a confection wrapped in a leaf, and a handmade paper bag with a silk drawstring. Materials include straw, bamboo, wood, cloth, string, paper, leaves, some enhanced with calligraphy and other art. Artists and designers looking for inspiration for packaging would find some here. Students of creativity and innovation could as well.

This is apparently a classic book on package design, and the cover photo demonstrates why: The book is chock-full of photos of lush, beautiful, and practical designs, from egg wrapping to noodle boxes to the earthenware container for a Japanese delicacy made from salted fish entrails. If you're expecting exhaustive discussions of the designs, however, you may be disappointed, as there's really nothing BUT the black-and-white photos and, at the very end, a paragraph or two that's mainly the photo credits and a description of what the item is. ("Here a miniature basket of woven bamboo with a bamboo-sheath cover serves to hold enticing candies called Morning Glories..." and two or three more sentences.) Sometimes it's a little hard to get a sense of the object's scale.Nonetheless, it's a lovely and inspiring book for getting you to "think outside the rectangular box."

This book is a basic must have for people interested in graphic design, tapestry, decorative arts or just beauty. Have owned this book since college, it was required reading. Bought this as a gift for a friend who is a gifted chef and pastry maker. She loved it!

Beautiful and great quality

I am so happy I bought How to Wrap Five Eggs. This is the first edition in English from 1967: I had emailed the seller to make sure before I bought it. It is in good condition and it was reasonably priced. My mind is already swarming with ideas on how to incorporate wrapping into my own art.

A bit bummed by what seemed poor printing/binding on a above average priced paperback. A bit too many pages connected together ay upper right corners as well as bleeding top borders. Considering the price and photographic content I’m a bit disappointed.

This book is absolutely stunning! The Japanese art of packaging is so compelling. The images are large, and of high quality. It is a catalogue of a show that was traveling around some years back, so there is not as much info, but each piece has a correlating information section in the back - pretty much like a glossary for each image. It's wonderful.

Buyer Beware. This book is not a reprint of "How to Wrap Five Eggs" as the title would imply, but is a reprint of the later book "How to Wrap Five More Eggs".Seemingly the original `How to Wrap Five Eggs' was a striking hardbound book first published in English by Weatherhill and Harper and Rowe in 1967, with a foreword by George Nelson. This book is not a reprint of the 1967 book, but a reprint of How to Wrap Five More Eggs, first published in 1975 in connection with a Japan Society exhibit on traditional Japanese packaging, which contained much of the material from the 1967 book. The first edition of "How to Wrap Five More Eggs" seemingly has some colour pictures, and this reprint has elegant black and white photos. Both the 1967 book and the 1975 book are difficult to obtain, and this inexpensive version is definitely worth buying for those who are interested in Japanese culture.

cleaver devils

Bargain book! A colleague of mine paid about £80 for this when it first came out.

There are 17 missing pages in the book I've received. These are really important pages with commentaries on the photographs.Unfortunately I just started to read it (the book was bought in May), so I can't process a return. Obviously they were not ripped out and it's probably a defect got during the printing process (see the photo).Anyway, it's a pity that the seller doesn't know what he/she is selling.

amazing book! a must have for all designers, design students and people interested in design!