8vo (218 x 158 mm.), orig. silk-covered boards, gold label on upper cover, paintings pasted on gold-flecked paper over stiff boards. [Japan]: late Edo or Meiji era.

A very fine album of 12 paintings (the well-known “set of 12“ format) of women’s vulvas, mostly with penises inserted. Many of the scenes are obviously post-coital. The details of the pubic hair and sexual organs are very beautifully painted in vivid colors. One of the images depicts a very young woman masturbating, and another shows a man’s hand stimulating his partner.

In fine condition, preserved in an attractive silk brocade patterned chitsu... More

Scroll on paper (330 x 4680 mm.), with seven scenes in brush & ink and color washes, gold-flecked endpapers, gold-flecked borders throughout, silk brocade on outside of endpapers, silver-flecked paper on verso of scroll, wooden core roller. [Japan: late Edo].

A remarkable erotic scroll depicting the visit of a group of traveling Buddhist priests to a roadside inn, where they have much and varied sex with each other and the inn’s female employees, who supplemented their incomes as prostitutes. There are seven scenes:

1. The first scene depicts two young Buddhist priests, one a younger assistant, with walking sticks. They... 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... 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... More

Many finely drawn illustrations in brush, ink, & colors. Scroll (285 x 9310 mm.), 23 joined sheets (some inoffensive worming, carefully repaired). Japan: copied before 1857.

A finely illustrated scroll, created in the witty and refined realistic style of Yamato-e and Ukiyo-e brush work, depicting the route taken — a distance of about 4 km. — by pleasure-seekers from Ryogoku Bridge to Shin Yoshiwara, the center of prostitution in the city of Edo. By the 18th century, it was the home to some 1750 women. This was an extremely busy section with a strong commercial tradition in what is today’s... 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... More

Double-page & full-page woodcuts throughout. 15 folding leaves. Three parts bound in one vol., complete, with all the orig. parts’ wrappers bound-in. Small 8vo (173 x 124 mm.), orig. wrappers, woodcut label with illus. on upper cover (partly defective), stitched (loose). Edo: Tsuruya Kiemon (Toriaburacho Tsurukichi), from the first leaf: “Spring 1802.”

First edition of this kibyoshi (“yellow-covered book”) and very rare; there is no copy of this edition in WorldCat. This is a rare survival and excellent example of a kibyoshi, small format and inexpensive books with yellow covers, mostly illustrated and containing popular stories for adults. These books... More

Japan: ca. 1818-30.

An excellent example of a woodblock for the production of prints for a mamehan shunga, small-format erotic prints in the form of cards typically measuring 90 x 120 mm. The production of these shunga thrived in the years 1818-30. Issued in sets of twelve, they were printed in large runs and very popular. About 1500 mamehan shunga are known to have been issued. They were often carried tucked into the breast section of kimono robes.

The obverse side of our woodblock is carved with the basic outline of four images for these cards; the sheet of printed... More

By Azuma Otoko Iccho, a pen name. 14 double-page & six full-page woodcuts, all finely color-printed. 15; 13; 11 folding leaves. Three vols. 8vo, orig. color-printed patterned & decorated semi-stiff wrappers, orig. silk color-printed labels on upper covers, new stitching. [Japan]: according to World Cat: [1848].

First edition of this very rare shunga book; WorldCat locates only one copy, in Japan. The artist of this work, using the pen name “Maromaru,” is Kunimaro Utagawa (active 1850-75), who was a pupil of Kunisada Utagawa. The title refers to the 48 kimarite or shijuuhatte (winning moves in sumo wrestling), suggesting an abundance... More