My mother is a histology professor, teaching at an American medical school. One of her colleagues is retiring, and she's searching for the perfect gift. In fact, she has the perfect gift already in mind, but she doesn't know how to find it.

I will explain. Another of my mother's colleagues at the medical school is Japanese. A few years back, this professor returned from a trip to Japan. While at the airport (Narita most likely), she picked up this illustrated guide to histological cells. She showed the book around the department, and everyone fell in love with it. It's a small paperback, with fantastic illustrations of different types of cells in our bodies. The book's title roughly translates to "Who's who in cells", at least according to this Japanese professor in the histology department. She even said that she knows the author, who both wrote the descriptions and drew the illustrations.

As I said, the book was a huge hit! It's the perfect book to give as a gift. The problem is that my mother's Japanese colleague is extremely protective of the little book. She doesn't even let other people touch it!

So, we're turning to reddit. Has anyone ever heard of such a book? It's a long shot, but maybe it rings a bell. And if so, where could we buy a copy?