Many full-page woodcut illus. Nine columns per page; 20 characters per column. 21; 32 folding leaves. Two vols. incl. addendum. 8vo, orig. wrappers, remains of block-printed title labels on upper covers. Osaka: Bun’eido, [19th century? or earlier?].

This book presents several mysteries. The title-page states “Seppu shoshi Bun’eido shi” [“Osaka publisher Bun’eido published this book”]. In spite of this, the book has all the qualities of a Chinese publication: the text paper and wrappers are clearly Chinese. There is no colophon. It would seem that this book was printed in China for the Japanese market.

The history of the literati scholar in China dates back to the Tang and Song dynasties (A.D. 618-907 and 960-1279, respectively), when the court implemented meritocratic civil exams for the selection of bureaucratic officials. The tests assessed the candidates’ knowledge and ability in a wide range of subjects, including Confucian thought, law, agriculture, and the arts, especially calligraphy, painting, and music. An entire class of intellectual and artistically trained scholars was thus created, many of whom built studios filled with beautiful calligraphy and painting tools, furniture, musical instruments, implements for preparing and consuming tea and wine, and antiques. More about Zhengxu wen fang tu zan, fu Shiyou tu zan; in Japanese: Seizoku bunbo zusan [Picture Catalogue of...

Eight columns per page; 17 characters per column. 65; 50; 52; 52; 45; 54; 48; 43; 38; 45; 65 folding leaves. 20 parts & table of contents in 11 vols. Large 8vo (285 x 205 mm.), orig. chestnut-colored semi-stiff wrappers, orig. block-printed labels on upper covers, new stitching. Japan: ca. 1596-1620.

One of several moveable type editions printed in Japan of the collected poetry of Huang (1045-1105), calligrapher, painter, and poet of the Song dynasty. The founder of the Jiangxi school of poetry, he is known as one of the Four Masters of the Song dynasty, along with Su Shi, Mi Fu, and Cai Xiang. Yuan Ren (fl. 1144), has provided a commentary.

This is a finely printed moveable type edition, and this copy was offered in Shigeo Sorimachi’s remarkable catalogue of moveable type Japanese books of 1972, item 173 (in trans.): “ca. 1596-1620 (Keicho, mid-Genna), large typeface, refined and correct type, layout is classic and impressive, has the prestige of Keicho editions. Every volume uses the same size of typeface and therefore harmonious. The red annotations are carefully placed and are reminiscent of the old days of high esthetics. It is rare to have all the labels on the upper covers. On the first leaf are the provenance seals of the Kokushoji [temple] in Bizen, Okayama, and the Horei Bunko collection of Frank Hawley [d. 1964].” More about Sankoku shi shuchu; Chinese title: Shangu shi ji zhu [Shangu’s Collection of Poetry with...

Eight drawings in the text. Written on high-quality paper & in one fine hand throughout. 389 folding leaves of text in 12 vols. 8vo (242 x 180 mm.), attractive navy blue embossed wrappers, all with gold-flecked endpapers, new stitching. [Japan: late Edo].

An important archive of manuscripts of the Tanaka family concerning equine medicine. We learn in the second volume that in 1603 two horse doctors, Kawada Michiharu and another person who lived in the Kanto region, gave the information in these volumes to Murai Jibozaemon. In 1635 Yokohama Sakon gave further information to Murai. Additionally, in 1640 Shoji Kakuzaemoni gave further secrets to Murai... More about Collection of manuscripts on equine medicine, entitled on the upper cover of the fine lacquer box...

[Japan: early Meiji, ca. 1875].

An unusually finely illustrated scroll on copper refining, illustrated by Suian Hirafuku.

The Ani-kozan silver and copper mine in Akita prefecture has been in operation since the late 16th century. Silver was extracted in the early years. In 1672, veins of copper ore were discovered there, and by 1716 it became the largest producer of copper in Japan. The copper was ultimately shipped to Nagasaki for export by the Dutch East India Company to European and Asian markets. By the late 1670s, Japan had become the largest copper producing and exporting country in the world (replacing... More about Scroll on paper (7140 x 275 mm.), entitled at beginning (in trans.): “The Process of Refining...

23 full-page & 11 double-page woodcut colored illus. 22; 19;15 folding leaves. Three vols. 8vo, orig. patterned semi-stiff wrappers, each decorated on the covers with what appear to be stencilled nature motifs, orig. block-printed vignette labels pasted on upper covers, new stitching. [Japan]: n.d. [but WorldCat suggests 1861-64].

This set is composed of the first two volumes of the second series and the third volume of the first series of this superbly illustrated shunga parody of The Tale of Genji. There seems to be no surviving complete set of the three-volume first series, and we can trace only two sets of the complete three-volume... More about Ukiyo genji gojuyon jo [Floating World, Tale of Genji, in 54 Chapters]. [By Tanekiyo Ryusuiti

242 pp. 12mo (155 x 95 mm.), cont. pink wrappers, title in manuscript on spine. Paris: C. Ballard, 1823.

An uncommon painting exhibition catalogue, complete with the second supplement, which is not noted by Marquet de Vasselot. The paintings of the French school (nos. 1-296) were displayed in the Grand Salon and featured the work of Bourdon, Le Brun, N. & A. Coypel, Claude Lorrain, Greuze, Oudry, Parrocel, N. Poussin, C. J. Vernet, Vouet, Watteau, etc. The German, Flemish, and Dutch schools (nos. 310-791) presented pictures by Bega, N. Berghem, Both, Brauwer, Cuyp, A. & P. van Dyck, Holbein, van Huysum, Lairesse, Metsu, Potter... More about Notice des Tableaux exposés dans la Galerie du Musée Royal

184 pp. 12mo (155 x 95 mm.), cont. pink wrappers, label in manuscript on spine, stitched as issued. Paris: L. P. Dubray, 1811.

[with]:

(—). Supplément à la Notice des Antiques du Musée Napoléon, contenant l’indication des Monuments exposés dans la Salle des Fleuves. 1 p.l., v, 24 pp. 12mo (150 x 95 mm.), cont. pink wrappers, title in manuscript on spine, stitched as issued. Paris: L. P. Dubray, 1811. More about Notice des Statues, Bustes et Bas-Reliefs, de la Galerie des Antiques du Musée Napoléon,...

ii, 109 pp. 12mo (155 x 100 mm.), cont. orange paste-paper wrappers (extremities a little frayed), label in manuscript on upper cover, stitched as issued. Paris: Dubray, 1807.

A livret documenting the sculptures, antiquities, paintings, and drawings assembled for an exhibition celebrating the French victory at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (1806). This catalogue consists of 710 entries, many extensively described with scholarly notes. Artists whose works were shown include J. Asselijn, Bakhuizen, Bega, Bol, S. Bourdon, Brauwer, Canaletto, An. Carracci, Cranach, Dow, Dürer, van Eyck, both Poussin, Giorgione, H. Holbein, Jordaens, Lairesse, A. Mignon, A. & I. van Ostade, Potter, Rembrandt, Rubens, ter Borch... More about Statues, Bustes, Bas-Reliefs, Bronzes, et autres Antiquités, Peintures, Dessins, et Objets...

180 pp. 12mo (145 x 90 mm.), cont. blue stiff paste-paper boards, label in manuscript on spine. Paris: L’Imprimerie des Sciences et Arts, An XI [but ca. 1803].

The rare catalogue for a large exhibition of antiquities seized from Italy, consisting of 223 objects. This livret begins with descriptions of the ceilings in six rooms of the museum. Each piece is analyzed at length, with historical and mythological explanations, scholarly notes on the materials and any reproductions, and includes the Italian institution or collection from which it was confiscated — e.g., the Vatican, the Villa Albani, the ducal palace of Modena, the Capitoline... More about Notice des Statues, Bustes et Bas-Reliefs, de la Galerie des Antiques du Musée Napoléon,...

1 p.l., ii, 152 pp. 12mo (153 x 100 mm.), cont. pink paste-paper boards (spine sunned), green morocco lettering-piece on spine. Paris: L’Imprimerie des Sciences et Arts, [?1801].

The second printing of this exhibition livret, describing 945 works (the first printing recorded only 944 works). This copy was bound for Auguste Gaspard Louis Desnoyers (1779-1857), premier Graveur du Roi. The present catalogue combines the contents of two great exhibitions, the first of French and Flemish pictures, the other consisting of Italian paintings looted from Lombardy and Bologna. Both were held in the grande Galerie of the Musée central des Arts (now the Louvre)... More about Musée Central des Arts. Notice des Tableaux des Ecoles française et flamande, Exposés dans la...

14 black & white illus. 36 unnumbered pages. Irregularly shaped small 4to (200 x 200 mm.), die-cut corners (spine faintly rubbed), staple-bound. [Chicago]: The University of Chicago Library, 1986.

An important exhibition catalogue as well as reference work on artists’ books. This catalogue was designed by the book artist Buzz Spector (b. 1948), and his pencil notes for the mock-up have been reproduced in this final version. Jeffrey Abt, the organizer of the exhibition, writes in an insightful essay: “The contemporary artist’s book…represents an evolution of the book’s use from a vehicle for text and its illustration to an artistically integrated, sometimes sculptural object. Though superficially... More about Exhibition catalogue]: The Book Made Art: A Selection of Contemporary Artists’ Books, exhibited...

Eight columns per page, 17 characters per column. Three sizes of type. 42; 41; 38; 40 folding leaves. Four vols. Large 8vo (280 x 195 mm.), orig. dark wrappers dyed with persimmon juice (shibubiki), new stitching. [Enryakuji Temple, Mount Hiei: mid-Kan’ei, ca. 1626-30].

An unrecorded moveable type edition of the commentary and subcommentary of Zongmi (780-841), on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment. This is a rare example of an Eizan-ban, a book printed with moveable type at the temples on Mount Hiei, outside of Kyoto, where Enryakuji Temple, one of the most important monasteries of Japan and the headquarters of the Tendai sect of Japanese Buddhism... More about Daihokoengaku ryakusho chugyo; [Chinese title: Da fang guang yuan jue lue su zhu jing];...