Many small brush & black ink drawings in the margins throughout. 111 folding leaves. 8vo (232 x 157 mm.), later patterned wrappers, new stitching. [Japan]: (in trans.): “copied by Tanaka on 29 January 1830.”

The index on the first two pages describes the arrangement of the manuscript: by sections of the body. These include the upper section (head, eyes, nose, teeth, throat, and lungs), middle section (heart, abdomen, hips), and lower section (urinary tract, large intestine, rectum, and legs). This is followed by one page describing treatments, which are either fast-acting or long-term. There is a further division of treatments for women (including reproductive organs), children... More

1 p.l., iv, 24 pp. 8vo (191 x 123 mm.), modern aubergine cloth, title on upper cover. Paris: Le Normant & Regnault-Delalande, 1816.

A scarce sale catalogue offering a woman’s fine collection of paintings and other curiosities; this copy is partially priced in a contemporary hand. Several institutional copies have been inscribed with the surname “Forestier.” The Getty Provenance Index attributes this sale to de Forestier, born Godin, who was the wife of Augustin de Forestier (1729-1817), the trésorier général of the Swiss Guards. She assembled a choice group of pictures, and, as described in the Getty Provenance Index entry for this catalogue, the leading... More

Five black & white illus. 18 pp. (incl. inside of both wrappers). 8vo (210 x 150 mm.), orig. semi-stiff pictorial wrappers, staple-bound. [From inside of lower wrapper]: Amsterdam: Stichting de Appel, 1984.

The very rare program for Ulises Carrion’s film festival celebrating the Mexican movie star Lilia Prado, a famous actor from his childhood. Prado (1928-2006) starred in a number of Mexican films as well as several directed by Luis Buñuel in the 1950s. Carrión organized a festival, screening four of her movies in four Dutch cities in 1984, which was attended by Prado herself. He conceived of this film festival as an “opportunity [for... More

54; 7 leaves (final blank). Folio (both ca. 300 x 210 mm.), orig. stitching. [Amiens]: 1649.

A rare survival on the market, two mid-17th-century inventories describing the estate of Agnès de Het, wife of a feudal lord, who was councillor to the king. They lived on the outskirts of Amiens. We have found a record of de Het’s husband, Lecouvreur, agreeing to rent land in 1688, but we are not able to find any record of de Het’s life. These two manuscripts provide an exhaustive listing of a 17th-century noble family’s numerous possessions.

The first document (54 leaves), signed on the final leaf by Lecouvreur, is a complete inventory of this family’s belongings. It lists not only household items, but also a variety of luxury items, such as a golden coffeepot, a necklace holding fourteen diamonds, a golden ring encrusted with a diamond, two pearl necklaces, a silver clock, etc. Also recorded are tables, tablecloths, napkins, a mirror, clothing, carpets, several chests, other furniture, etc. More

Scroll (300 x 4150 mm.), with pale green silk borders & endpapers, wooden core roller. [Japan]: n.d. but probably early Edo.

This is a fine example of an erotic scroll, anonymously painted as usual but with great skill. The scroll contains ten scenes of men (sometimes samurai) and women engaged in various sexual activities. Two of the scenes are threesomes, one of which shows a young samurai copulating with two older women. The hairstyles of both the women and men are typical of the pleasure courts of the early Edo period.

Erotic paintings in Japan have a long tradition, established well before the Edo period. “Many aspects regarding the production of early paintings with sexual content — when, where and by whom they were made, how they were appreciated — are still obscure…There was apparently a radical change in the form of erotic handscrolls from around 1600 onwards when paintings with a sequence of twelve [our example has ten] erotic scenes became common…Each scene in handscrolls of this type does not normally show any clear relationship with the adjacent scenes, nor is there usually any development, other than presenting a variety of couplings and sexual techniques. Each group of copulating figures exists within its own enclosed space, set against a plain or simply decorated background, as if functioning as an example of a possible sexual position… More

Seven double-page (one of which has flaps & folds out into a four-panel scene) and two single-page woodcuts, all finely color-printed, and nine double-page black & white woodcuts. One color-printed title-page pasted down on inner upper wrapper, 24 folding leaves. Small 8vo, orig. color-printed upper wrapper, with embossing, decorated lower wrapper, new stitching. [Edo]: Preface dated 1864.

First edition and very rare; we find no copy in WorldCat. The Preface was written by Tanekiyo Ryusuitei (1823-1907), using his pen name “Insuitei.”

Following one of the frequent fires in the famous pleasure quarters of Yoshiwara, often started by the prostitutes in an effort to free... More

Numerous full-page or double-page color-printed woodcut illus. 27 folding leaves. 8vo, orig. wrappers (a bit rubbed), orig. block-printed title label on upper cover (again, a bit rubbed), new stitching. Osaka: Senritei et al., 1831.

First edition of this handsome color-printed woodcut book and a wonderful example of karazuri (blind-printing) which makes fine Japanese illustrated books so pleasing. We find no copy in WorldCat.

“Another artist with greater affinities to Shijo than Ukiyo-e is Katsura Seiyo (1786-1860), but he was a prolific designer of prints for kyoka books…he had an obvious appreciation of book design, and he enhanced many a kyoka that would... 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 early Meiji periods... More

Hand-colored illus. in the text, hand-colored plate hors texte & sheet of “Timbres Anticrisopestiques” laid-in. [12], [1] pp. Small folio (322 x 246 mm.), orig. pictorial wrappers, stitched as issued. Paris: J. Bernard, 1933.

First and only edition of an amusing narrative about the imaginary “Crisopeste,” with fine illustrations by Lewitska, heightened in color pencil, which disrupt and transform the text. One of 100 numbered luxury copies on vélin blanc fort, heightened with hand coloring, and with an additional plate hors texte, from a total edition of 1000 copies.

Born in Poland, Lewitska (1880-1937) trained as a painter in Paris and was first associated with Cubism and... More

36; 50; 25 leaves (each leaf consisting of two leaves pasted together at the fore-edge). 8vo (272 x 190 mm.), orig. wrappers, orig. manuscript title labels on upper covers (first label a little defective), new stitching. [Japan: between 1624-43].

A very rare movable type digest edition of the celebrated Tale of Genji. By the beginning of the 17th century, the Tale of Genji was not easy to read without a teacher. As a result, a series of digests or condensed versions, offering easier access to the text in more familiar language, were published. According to Peter Kornicki, seven movable type editions of the digest Genji... More

Edited by Yusuishi Tanaka. Woodcut frontis. & eight fine double-page woodcut illus. 21; 18 folding leaves. Two vols. Large 8vo, orig. blue wrappers (wrappers rather worn & rubbed), orig. block-printed title labels on upper covers (rubbed), new stitching. Osaka, Edo, & Kyoto: 1749.

First edition of this beautifully illustrated book; the fine woodcuts are by Sukenobu Nishikawa (1671-1750 or -51 or -54), who “counts among the foremost masters of so-called ukiyo-e (primitive) prints. His subject matter, like that of his contemporaries, revolved around images of women walking. These images are stylised, lending the rhythmic movement of the sumptuous robes an almost sculptural effect. Nishikawa also did... More

The autograph manuscript of one of Sand’s earliest novellas. It contains nearly 300 ink deletions and corrections and vividly reveals the author’s writing process. Cora appeared in print for the first time on 9 February 1833 in the fifth volume of the collection of tales Le Salmigondis. Sand (1804-76) wrote it shortly after her split with the novelist Jules Sandeau (1811-83). Sand’s works from 1832 to 1834 are particularly revealing concerning her turbulent personal life and her total adoption of the bohemian and androgynous persona of “George Sand,” for which she applied and received a permission de travestissement. Her early... More