UTAGAWA, Hiroshige 歌川広重, UTAGAWA, Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳, & UTAGAWA, Toyokuni san sei 歌川豊国三世, artists.

Kyōka edo hanabi senryō 狂歌東都花日千両 [A Thousand Flowers: Witty Poets on Three Popular Districts of Edo].

25 finely color-printed double-page woodcuts. 25.5; 15; 21.5 folding leaves. Three vols. 8vo, orig. semi-stiff wrappers, orig. block-printed title-slips on upper covers, new stitching. [Edo]: 1853-54.

First edition of this finely illustrated book, which rarely appears complete in all three volumes. The “Kyōka Edo Hanabi Senryō has sub-titles that show the sort of specialization that was associated with the three leading Utagawa artists. Volume One by Hiroshige, entitled ‘Nihonbashi Section,’ consists mainly of views of central Edo, figures, in some prints, threading their way through the hanging curtains of calligraphy showing the second floor of a brothel; Volume Two, by Kuniyoshi, related to the ‘licensed quarter’; and Volume Three, by Kunisada [= Toyokuni san sei], to ‘theatre-land’.”–Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book, p. 848 & image 559.

At the time of publication, these three members of the Utagawa school were at the pinnacles of their careers. The color-printed illustrations depict the fish markets of Nihonbashi, the pleasure quarter of Yoshiwara, and the backstage preparations in a kabuki theater. The witty and humorous kyōka poetry appears with the images.

Fine and fresh set, preserved in an attractive modern chitsu. In the first volume, the first 13 leaves have a wormhole (maximum 50 mm. in length and becoming shorter as one progresses). This wormhole, expertly repaired throughout, is present in the woodcuts.