80 pp. 8vo (216 x 135 mm.), early 20th-cent. cloth-backed marbled boards & orig. printed wrappers mounted on stubs, gilt title on spine. Paris: Bonnefons Delavialle, Ch. Paillet; London: Treuttel & Wurtz, Jarman; Amsterdam: Dufour & De la Chaux; Brussels: Danot; Berlin: Logier & Simon Schropp; Vienna: Schabacher, [1826].

A fascinating and rare auction catalogue of an extensive and influential collection of Asian artifacts belonging to a “F. Sallé,” with many contemporary pencil annotations in the margins. We have been unable to ascertain his first name, but Sallé appears in numerous early 19th-century Parisian auction catalogues as the commissaire-priseur.

This... More

12 richly colored paintings with sprays of gold (each 210 x 180 mm.), each mounted onto thick board. Small 4to (275 x 210 mm.), orig. patterned silk over heavy boards. [Japan]: Meiji-Taisho.

Cotton was introduced to Japan from China in the eighth century, but it was only in the late 15th century that it was grown with success. By the early 17th century, cotton production had spread to most areas of Japan. It became one of the most important commercial commodities of Edo-period Japan, replacing hemp as the standard fabric for commoner clothing.

This attractively illustrated album depicts in 12... More

Ten double-page & two single-page woodblock color-printed illus.; two-page preface & colophon with color-printed borders, & several leaves with color-printed backgrounds. 14; 13; 11.5 folding leaves. Three vols. 8vo, orig. patterned semi-stiff wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers (all three a little defective), new stitching. From the colophon: Kyoto et al.: carved by Inoue Jihei for Daimonjiya Tokugoro, 1835.

First edition of this beautifully illustrated introduction to the story and customs of the Tanabata Festival, today celebrated on July 7th. The Tanabata Festival traces its origins to the Chinese Qixi Festival and marks the meeting of the deities... More

15 double-page woodblock-printed color illustrations. 9.5 folding leaves & colophon page; 8.5 folding leaves & colophon page. Two vols. 8vo (255 x 189 mm.), orig. blue patterned wrappers (gajo jitate-style, somewhat rubbed), with slightly oxidized silver pigment decoration, orig. block-printed labels on both covers (labels a little worn). [From Vols. I & II colophons]: Edo: Tsutaya Juzaburo, [ca. 1791 or 1792].

First edition, of the utmost rarity, the final installment in Utamaro’s trilogy, considered the pinnacle of Japanese book illustration. Following The Insect Book [Ehon mushi erabi] (1788) and The Shell Book [Shiohi no tsuto] (ca. 1789/90), this intricately printed... More

Nine double-page, one single-page, & several woodcut illus. in the text, all color-printed, and a number of black & white woodcuts throughout the text. One preliminary leaf pasted-down on the inside upper wrapper, 19 folding leaves, one leaf of ads at end pasted-down on the inside lower wrapper. Small 8vo, orig. wrappers decorated with the characters for “Kiraku” in hiragana, orig. block-printed title labels on upper cover, new stitching. “Ukiyo”: Kirakudo, [late Edo].

First edition of this playful parody of a serious sex manual, with illustrations by Koikawa (1821-1907), one of the leading shunga artists of the late Edo and... More

Many fine black & white double-page & single-page woodcuts throughout. Ten vols. 8vo, orig. blue semi-stiff wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers (three labels are somewhat defective), new stitching. Osaka: Tenmaya Yasubei; Kyoto: Yoshida Jihei, 1835.

[with]:

— & MATSUKAWA Hanzan; —. Ehon Toyotomi Ryukyu gunki [Illustrated Tale of the Ryukyu War]. Many fine black & white double-page & single-page woodcuts throughout (six in Vol. I are color-printed). Ten vols. 8vo, orig. pale blue patterned wrappers, orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers, new stitching. Osaka: Kawachiya Tobei & Kawachiya Mohei, colophon dated 1864; title-page... More

48 full-page color-printed woodcuts. 26.5 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. orange semi-stiff wrappers (quite rubbed), orig. title-slip, new stitching. Osaka, Edo, & Kyoto: Akitaya Taemon 秋田屋太右衛門, 1841.

Second edition, “newly carved,” of this poetry anthology on the theme of various crafts and professions. The artist Gakutei (1786-1868) was a “man of many parts, a kyōka composer and a translator of Chinese literature into Japanese; and though he was probably never as natural and instinctive a master of the brush as Hokusai and one or two of his more gifted pupils, he undoubtedly had an original cast of mind…[he was] one of... More