A fine printing woodblock (184 x 722 mm.) used to print a work on physiognomy...
Text and illus. engraved on both sides. Japan: late Edo or early Meiji.
An interesting specimen for printing-history teaching collections: a printing woodblock used to print a Japanese book on physiognomy; it bears delicate renderings of palm readings. Our block bears the text and illustrations for four leaves (nos. 65-68) in one of the book’s five volumes. NIJL and WorldCat (accession no.: 42283716, for the 1892 ed.) use an additional title for the present book. Sōhō hijukai 相法秘受解. We have not been able to determine which edition we have; there were several published in the 19th century.
Near fine. More