First edition. Illustrations & diagrams to text. 8vo. Publisher's printed wrappers, seal stamp, browning of the cheap paper with trivial chips and closed tears to the wrapper. [6], 58pp. Tokyo, Asahi Shinbunsha [Showa 20], October, 1945.
Very rare. This copy includes pages 37-40 that were removed before issue, supposedly from all copies. These are the sections: "Genshi bakudan to Nihon" and "Genshi bakudan no koka" - the atomic bomb and Japan, and the effect of atomic bombs. Nearly all surviving copies were dismantled and roughly side stapled after those pages were gone.
A nuclear physicist, Sagane Ryokichi (1905-1969), who had studied in the US, received a letter from physicist Luis Alvarez and two other former colleagues that was dropped in a canister over Nagasaki a minute before the bomb. The letter in part reads, "We implore you to confirm these facts to your leaders, and to do your utmost to stop the destruction and waste of life which can only result in the total annihilation of all your cities, if continued. As scientists, we deplore the use to which a beautiful discovery has been put, but we can assure you that unless Japan surrenders at once, this rain of atomic bombs will increase manyfold in fury."
This publication is his account of the desctruction and effects of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
OCLC locates two copies outside Japan: University of Maryland which is marked "Deleted" in English and Japanese on the cover with the page numbers. The other is held at Grinnell College and is also censored.
