Morokoshi Meisho Zue [trans.: Illustrated Description of Famous Sites of China].
About 250 black & white woodcuts (about 170 are double-page, a few in red ink). Six vols. Large 8vo, orig. wrappers (quite rubbed, occasional unimportant worming), orig. block printed title label on each upper cover, new stitching. Kyoto: 1806.
First edition of this finely illustrated work of the landmarks, famous sights, art works, and the chief cultural buildings of China in the late 18th century. The illustrators are the well-known Japanese artists Okada Gyokuzan (d. 1808), Yugaku Oka (1762-1833), and Toya Ohara (1771-1840). Okada was the first to create such detailed woodcuts in Japan.
In the meisho travel guide tradition, which... More