Search Results: Authors starting with O from Ursus Books

1867. CORPORATION OF LONDON. Proceedings in reference to the preservation of the Bunhill Fields Burial Ground. Printed by order of the Corporation of London. [4], 88 pp. 8vo, red publisher's binding with gilt insignia and lettering on front outside cover. London: Benjamin Pardon, 1867. This collection of proceedings by the Bunhill Fields Preservation Committee documents the Corporation of London's efforts to ensure the safety of the Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, as the Corporation's lease was nearing its end (Christmas, 1867). Bunhill had been a burying ground of Nonconformists and other denominations since the sixteenth century. With the work of the committee, the Corporation obtained an Act of Parliament in 1867 preserving the burial ground as an open landscaped space with seating, gardens and the restoration of some of it most noteworthy monuments, including John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe and William Blake. The appendix contains a reprint of a rare tract from 1717, "Inscription… Read More

1893. OGAWA, K. Military Costumes in Old Japan. 34 pp., illustrated with 15 black-and-white plates reproducing photographs taken by K. Ogawa. Folio, bound in paper wrappers, Japanese-style, side-sewn with new blue ribbon, in new cloth box. Tokyo: K. Ogawa, [1893]. The photographs taken by K. Ogawa, under the direction of Chitora Kawasaki of Ko-yu-kai (Tokyo Fine Art School), show military costumes from the Fujiwara through Ashiga periods (the 10th through 16th centuries). Ogawa Kazuma (1860-1929) was one of Japan's premier nineteenth-century photographers. As the preface states, other photographs in these volumes were supplied by the Englishman William Kinimond Burton (1853-1899) and Kajima Seibei (1866-1824); both of these men were instrumental in the development of photography as a commercial art form in Japan. The half-tone illustrations appear on rectos only and were printed by the National Chemigraph Company of St. Louis. Covers show general, light soiling and a bit of wear at corners,… Read More

1899. OGAWA KAZUMA. A Model Japanese Villa. 4 pp., illustrated with 14 hand-coloured collotype plates. Oblong folio, 265 x 375 mm., bound in publisher's silk-covered boards, in a new cloth folding box. Tokyo: Ogawa, 1899. Splendid Japanese photo album depicting Meiji style gardens surrounding a model country villa. This appealing work in a handsome copy represents a rare example of Ogawa's collotype folios. The fourteen plates offer a total of eighteen images, two of the plates each displaying three images. Copies seem to have from thirteen to fifteen plates and varying images. In addition to the villa itself, extensive coverage is given to the landscaped gardens and the select flowers and shrubs therein. Ogawa Kazuma (1860-1929), one of the most celebrated early Japanese photographers and a founder of the first Japan Photographic Society, was introduced to photography in 1873 while at missionary school in Tokyo. He spent three years in the United States learning portrait photography;… Read More

1935. TOKYO. Tokyo Shisei Zuhyo [Graphic Illustration of Tokyo City]. By Mitsuyoshi Ohashi. 44 pages: comprised of Japanese text surrounded by colour-printed graphs, charts, maps, illustrated vignettes, etc. Folio, 443 x 307 mm., bound western-style in navy blind-patterned cloth, in the original printed cardboard slipcase. Tokyo: Kyoto Insatsu Kabushiki Kaisha, 1935. A classic in the development of the isotype technique in depicting information via coloured illustration or pictograms. The isotype (International System of Typographic Picture Education) was developed in Vienna between 1925 and 1934, which made its way to Japan quickly. It makes perfect sense from a language perspective that Japanese publishers, wishing for a broader audience, would adopt the new scientific isotype as a method of information transfer. The essence of isotype publications is the "transformation" of complex information into self-explanatory visual charts or diagrams. OCLC finds one copy at Columbia. A… Read More

1806. OKADA, Gyukuzan, et al. Morokoshi Meisho Zue. [Illustrated Description of Famous Sites of China]. Six volumes bound in five, xylographically printed and illustrated throughout, including many double-page woodcut illustrations. 8vo, 265 x 185 mm., bound Japanese-style in original tan paper wrappers with printed paper lettering pieces, in a modern green cloth chemise. Kyoto, Edo, Byo, and Osaka: Hayashi Ihei et al, Bunka, 1805. Very rare first edition of this guide to the key sites in China during the Qing dynasty, edited and illustrated by the Japanese artists Okada Gyokuzan (1737-1812), Oka Yugaku (1762-1833), and Ohara Toya (1771-1840). Although the Morokoshi Meisho Zue was issued with the imprints of at least thirteen different publishers in the cities of Kyoto, Edo, Byo, and Osaka, very few sets seem to have survived. This informative work illustrates scenes from Chinese history and legend, as well as topographical views, palaces, and archaeological and sacred sites. The work… Read More

1972. ORIGINAL PUBLISHER'S MAQUETTE OLDENBURG, Claes. Notes in Hand. 50 archival folders (numbered 1-50), one for each image in the published work (London: Petersburg Press, 1972), consisting of developmental collages, working drafts with annotations, paste-ups, corrections and some drawings in the hand of Claes Oldenburg, accompanied by related imagery and texts for covers, miscellaneous documents, working documents and drafts for two rejected images (nos. "45" and "48") which apparently remain unpublished. Sizes vary: folders measure 405 x 320 mm, and are preserved in two black cloth protective boxes. S.n., n.d. (1969-1970). Original maquette for Notes in Hand, Oldenburg's best-known book and one of the primary examples of Pop Art in book form. The present archive remains the ONLY record of the creation of the book itself. There are as many as ten proposed variations for each page in the published version, with numerous additions, changes and… Read More

1930. ONCHI. Shin Rosia Gakan/Siluet Novoi Rossii. By Keishi Oze. [8], 155, [5] pp., profusely illustrated with photographs and reproduced drawings throughout. 8vo, 185 x 165 mm., bound in original illustrated boards and matching illustrated cardboard slipcase. Tokyo: ARS, Shôwa 5 [1930]. "Views of the New Russia" is an exploration of the new Soviet state. The binding and book design by Onchi is remarkable, capturing the constructivist aesthetic very effectively. Although Onchi later became known as an important printmaker and photographer, he initially supported himself as a book designer. A nice combination of Japanese book design and Russian constructivism. Very good in the rare, but slightly rubbed and soiled decorated slipcase.

1943. ONCHI, Koshiro. Chu, Gyo, Kai. [Insects, Fish, Shells]. Unpaginated, 14 ff. Illustrated with 10 prints done with a mix of techniques including pochoir and woodcut. 4to, 265 x 210, bound in publisher's illustrated wrappers. Tokyo: Aoi Shobo, Showa 18 [1943]. Onchi was an extremely prolific and gifted artist whose work with books merits him a place among the twentieth century's most important book artists. In Chu, Gyu, Kai "he not only wrote the experimental verses, but embarked on new departures in printing techniques, combining with the colour woodblock mechanically produced half-tone and line block."(Hillier) A fine copy of this rare, important and desirable book. No 158 of 200 copies. OCLC lists only the Art Institute of Chicago worldwide. Hillier, Jack: The Art of the Japanese Illustrated Book (London, 1987), p. 1019f.