YUUYOO SHOKU BUTSU ZU SETSU: COLOR ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE OF USEFUL [EDIBLE & PRA

Tokyo 1891-95, Teikoku Hakubutsu Kan.Stitched blue wrs.,vols 1-3 plates only, 1015 color woodblock printed illustration, no text vols., 4 color illus per page, 4 plate volumes only from the 7 vol. set, very clean, bright copies. R A R E ! . *** **** *** . . . A STUNNING AND IMPORTANT JAPANESE BOTANICAL . . . COLOR WOODBLOCK ILLUSTRATED . . . COMPLETE JAPANESE LANGUAGE EDITION IN 7 VOLUMES . . * This is a stunning 7 volume set. It consists of 3 volumes text, 3 volumes 'atlas' of color plates [complete in 3 vols.], 4 color examples per page, 1015 illustrated plants in all. 1 volume index. The complete collation is: 3 volumes 75+67+75; followed by the 55p. index, Japanese text. . Each plate has its individual number, the Romanized Japanese name, followed by Latin names. Highly useful to those who cannot read Japanese. Each exhibit has an individual number written in Kanji and Katakana for semi-literate Japanese farmers. .. . NOTE: Other examples may consist of odd volumes. please carefully read the description of each item's copy notes. . *** CO-AUTHOR, ARTIST: Co-author was Shokkai Ono. The color illustrations of Japanese plants were drawn & executed by Sessai Hattori. . *** CONTENTS: The contents listed in the book with the below English section titles. . This is a stunningly beautiful and copious work. It encompasses a most wide variety if not all of the known named plants in Japan. A dictionary of useful plants, vegetables, tubers and fruits. All plants are organized by categories: . I: Cereals & Fabace. II: Vegetables. III: Roots. IV: Plants of which the flowers & leaves are eaten. V: Cucurbitaceous fruits. VI: Edible fungi. VII: Edible algae. VIII: Condiments & spices. IX: Fruits. X: Starch plants. XI: Forage plants. XII: Luxury yielding plants. XIII: Economic plants for different uses. XIV: Oil & wax plants. XV: Textile plants. XVI: Paper manufacturing plants. XVII: Dye plants. XVIII: Fragrant plants. XIX: Medicinal plants. [pharmacopia] XX: Poisonous plants. XXI: Timber trees and bamboo. XXII: Deciduous ornamental trees. XXIII: Evergreen ornamental plants [including bamboo]. XXIV: Garden plants. XXV: Covering plants for ground [sic meaning 'ground' cover] . *** STUNNING COLOR WOODBLOCK-PRINTED BOOK: . This fabulous color work shows the specimen plants foliage, flowers, details of the flowers & leaves, with blossoms and stamens inserted. Each color example is an true to original exact reproduction of the one from nature, in accurate color and veins found in the foliage. A botanist's dream book from an earlier era, when hand carving of woodblocks were the best method of showing the true nature & color of plants. It was also printed on hand-made mulberry fiber Washi paper. . * Works of this complex printing technique and magnitude are scarce in Japan and were costly to produce, using over 500 or more individual carved blocks to print the full page color illustrations. . *** MAJOR BOTANICAL REFERENCE: . A major color reference to Japan's plant life, finely illustrated and executed in stunning "real-life" color with grading from bright to pale colors as is found in nature. A very difficult printing technique, superbly executed by the artisans who hand-printed this work with ultimate skill. The complete set is always R A R E and seldom found. . *** WHAT IS A COMPLETE SET ? Per the above, we cite this as complete in 7 volumes, but it can also be considered complete in 6 volumes [3 each of text and 3 color-plate volumes]. The index being issued later [See Merrill below] in 1902. Not all sets contain the later index. . To this, we add just one more level of confusion. Based on our reference copy of the 7 volumes, the index volume was first published in 1891, then again in 1897. It has a preface date of 1893. There is the distinct possibility that Merrill is wrong, in that he has not seen the 1891 index and therefore believed at the time that the index came out in 1902. The other and more likely possibility is that he did not read Japanese or relied on an assistant who also did not read the colophon or have knowledge of other editions. . *** IMPORTANT RECENT AUCTION RECORD: This exact title in 7 volumes was sold in at New York Christies, Rockefeller Plaza, $4750, sale 2170, Important Botanical Books, June 24, 2009. . *** Color photos are posted to our website. . *** CONDITION: Copy 2, complete in 7 volumes. The set is bound in the original publisher's blue blind-stamped stiff stitched covers, with title slips. There is some of the usual rubbing to the edges, corners & covers. There is some of the typical spots found on volumes 1 &2 of the illustration texts, again contents unaffected. . The contents are excellent with superb impression, registry & color woodblock prints. There are no flaws in the text or illustration volumes, all clean without stain or other distractions. Far better than the average example. . The set is firmly stitched and quite solid. . *** BIBLIOGRAPHY: . E. Merrill: A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF EASTERN ASIATIC BOTANY, p.490. entry for this author: TANAKA, Yoshio: under dates 1891a,b. In the first entry he cites this title as a 6 volume set, i.e. vols 1-3 text; vols. 1-3 plates as the complete work as published in 1891. Then under 1891b, he cites: "YUYO SHOKUBUTSU ZUSETSU MOKUROKU OYOBI SAKUIN or CONTENTS AND THE INDICES TO USEFUL PLANTS OF JAPAN DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED"...1902. Then, the later index would make this a 7 volume set, printed 3 years later. Then he cites yet another later edition 1895 as the "ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT 1895, bound western style. * BARTLETT, Harley H. et al. : JAPANESE BOTANY DURING THE PERIOD OF WOOD-BLOCK PRINTING, p.437, exhibit 28. This work is complete in 7 volumes even though Bartlett states 9 vols. as the complete works. Perhaps it was simply a typographical error ? In fact, Tanaka states in the preface to volume 1 [index], that the set consists of 4 volumes text + 3 volumes of plates atlas. Merrill also supports the total volume count to be 7 in all. . Bartlett was a much better bibliographer, and had his Japanese co-author, Hide Shohara assistant in all Japanese language translations. The work is clearly complete in 7 volumes, regardless of the "series" method of publishing some parts at a later date, all the set needs the index to be a complete and useful resource. . * .