EHON SAGASHIGUSA [ONNA BUYU^ YOSO-OI KURABE] by [EHON] Tsukioka Settei - 1766

187. [BASEBALL - JAPAN] Shihon Gakkou-hen. SHO^GAKU TOKUHON Maki no Ichi. Aichi-ken [Nagoya] Shihongakko^ [Teacher's College] n.d. [1870's] An interesting little elementary school reader from the first series of textbooks designed and created by the Teachers College Normal School system in Japan after the Meiji restoration to introduce "Western Learning" to the country. What follows is a series of excerpts from an informative article found online at http://wwwwp.mext.go.jp/hakusyo/book/hpbz198103/hpbz198103_2_035.html "The Normal School, which was under the direct jurisdiction of the Department of Education, was also requested to compile elementary school textbooks on the basis of its practical experience. Also an office for editing elementary school textbooks was set up in the Normal School in December, 1872. The Department of Education encouraged independent prefectures to reprint the textbooks and other educational material which it and the Normal School had compiled, and it was not long before… Read More

19. [COSTUME DESIGNS - NOH THEATER] NOH-KA GABI. Tokyo & Kyoto: Unsodo, n.d. [Showa 9, 1934]. Large brocade covered wooden box of 102 (of 100 - there are 2 extra plates not called for in the contents pages) plates of Noh costumes, patterns, masks, etc. An impressive mixture of printing techniques - color woodcut, offset, color collotype and various hybrids thereof. Sheet size: 29 x 37 cm. One of the wonderful folios for which Unsodo was famous between the wars. Very good, complete, very unusual, text in Japanese.

1946. [SKETCH TOUR GENRE] NAKAZAWA Hiromitsu, artist. SAIGOKU SAN-JU^-SAN-SHO JUNREI EMAKI. Kyoto, Kanao Bun'endo^, publisher. Sho^wa 21 [1946]. Oblong folio of o^ban size woodblock prints after designs by Hiromitsu, detailing the famous pilgrimage sites (and sights) in western Japan. The blocks were cut by Okada Seijiro^ and the printers were Nishimura Kumakichi and Takagi Kiyomitsu. This portfolio project was initially completed and printed in 1925. This edition, printed from the same blocks at the very end of Kanao's life, was obviously issued as a companion piece to the THIRTY-SIX VIEWS OF OSAKA, which Kanao also published in 1946. The colors of the original 1925 edition were quite a bit more light and "crumbly" than the bolder colors used in this printing, which accord with that used in the Osaka series. (I personally like this bolder approach to Hiromitsu's work.) There are eleven color woodblock printed preliminary pages, a table of contents page, 37 pilgrimage views, a final portrait of… Read More

1916. [SKETCHTOUR GENRE] Kanao Bun'endo, publisher. HANSHIN MEISHO-ZUE A folding album of 24 (of 30) prints - oban size color woodcut, printed by Nishimura Kumakichi and published by Kanao Bun'endo in 1916,17. The finest of all of Bun'endo's remarkable porfolio productions, The HANSHIN MEISHO ZUE is a great rarity, even individual prints from the series of 30 are by no means common. We are missing only prints #7, 21-25 (6 in all). There are two prefatory pages, one is a map of the trip around western Japan depicted herein, the other a table of contents. Also, one of the Akamatsu Rinsaku designed portfolio cover prints has been mounted as preface to the whole series, while four others have been trimmed and mounted on two pages at the end. The artists who designed the prints were Akamatsu Rinsaku (1878-1953), Noda Kyuho (1879-1971), Hata Tsuneharu(1883-? ), Mizushima Nihou (or Nihofu) (1884-1958) and Nagai Hyosai (1882-1945). For more on this remarkable work, see Charles Mitchell's article in ESSAYS ON… Read More

1721 Japanese Sword Katana Arami Meizukushi Illustrated Handwritten New Blades

An interesting Edo and Meiji woodblock-print of 'New Blades.' This collection is the stamping of amateur warriors' blades and polishers throughout the Edo period and is equivalent to the sword of the Meiji era and later called "modern sword.". It follows up on the older collections of blade writings which summarized the accumulated knowledge of amateur warriors' blades and polishers throughout the Muromachi period. After the battle of Sekigahara in Keicho 4 (AD 1599), the Tokugawa shogunate opened and war ended, demand and production methods for swords changed, and later works came to be called "new swords." This 'New Blades' book includes information on large and small swords, knives, tools for forgings, polishing, and repairing, as well as stamps of sword makers and the illustrious line patterns between the edge and spine called the Hamon.
This rare 1721 edition is written in a column handwritten format with furigana… Read More

187. [BASEBALL - JAPAN] Shihon Gakkou-hen. SHO^GAKU TOKUHON Maki no Ichi. Aichi-ken [Nagoya] Shihongakko^ [Teacher's College] n.d. [1870's] An interesting little elementary school reader from the first series of textbooks designed and created by the Teachers College Normal School system in Japan after the Meiji restoration to introduce "Western Learning" to the country. What follows is a series of excerpts from an informative article found online at http://wwwwp.mext.go.jp/hakusyo/book/hpbz198103/hpbz198103_2_035.html "The Normal School, which was under the direct jurisdiction of the Department of Education, was also requested to compile elementary school textbooks on the basis of its practical experience. Also an office for editing elementary school textbooks was set up in the Normal School in December, 1872. The Department of Education encouraged independent prefectures to reprint the textbooks and other educational material which it and the Normal School had compiled, and it was not long before… Read More

19. [COSTUME DESIGNS - NOH THEATER] NOH-KA GABI. Tokyo & Kyoto: Unsodo, n.d. [Showa 9, 1934]. Large brocade covered wooden box of 102 (of 100 - there are 2 extra plates not called for in the contents pages) plates of Noh costumes, patterns, masks, etc. An impressive mixture of printing techniques - color woodcut, offset, color collotype and various hybrids thereof. Sheet size: 29 x 37 cm. One of the wonderful folios for which Unsodo was famous between the wars. Very good, complete, very unusual, text in Japanese.

1946. [SKETCH TOUR GENRE] NAKAZAWA Hiromitsu, artist. SAIGOKU SAN-JU^-SAN-SHO JUNREI EMAKI. Kyoto, Kanao Bun'endo^, publisher. Sho^wa 21 [1946]. Oblong folio of o^ban size woodblock prints after designs by Hiromitsu, detailing the famous pilgrimage sites (and sights) in western Japan. The blocks were cut by Okada Seijiro^ and the printers were Nishimura Kumakichi and Takagi Kiyomitsu. This portfolio project was initially completed and printed in 1925. This edition, printed from the same blocks at the very end of Kanao's life, was obviously issued as a companion piece to the THIRTY-SIX VIEWS OF OSAKA, which Kanao also published in 1946. The colors of the original 1925 edition were quite a bit more light and "crumbly" than the bolder colors used in this printing, which accord with that used in the Osaka series. (I personally like this bolder approach to Hiromitsu's work.) There are eleven color woodblock printed preliminary pages, a table of contents page, 37 pilgrimage views, a final portrait of… Read More

1916. [SKETCHTOUR GENRE] Kanao Bun'endo, publisher. HANSHIN MEISHO-ZUE A folding album of 24 (of 30) prints - oban size color woodcut, printed by Nishimura Kumakichi and published by Kanao Bun'endo in 1916,17. The finest of all of Bun'endo's remarkable porfolio productions, The HANSHIN MEISHO ZUE is a great rarity, even individual prints from the series of 30 are by no means common. We are missing only prints #7, 21-25 (6 in all). There are two prefatory pages, one is a map of the trip around western Japan depicted herein, the other a table of contents. Also, one of the Akamatsu Rinsaku designed portfolio cover prints has been mounted as preface to the whole series, while four others have been trimmed and mounted on two pages at the end. The artists who designed the prints were Akamatsu Rinsaku (1878-1953), Noda Kyuho (1879-1971), Hata Tsuneharu(1883-? ), Mizushima Nihou (or Nihofu) (1884-1958) and Nagai Hyosai (1882-1945). For more on this remarkable work, see Charles Mitchell's article in ESSAYS ON… Read More

New York: A.A. Vantine & Co., Inc., 1916. A RARE catalogue, and in lovely condition, of the major importer of Oriental goods into America from 1866 to 1921. Very Good Plus in original full color pictorial wrappers, 120 pp. plus 2 order pages at rear, pre-addressed envelope tipped at page 106. numerous black and white and color photographs throughout, small tears at spine ends, small spot rear wrapper, else Near Fine. In 1916 Vantine's was located at Fifth Avenue and 39th Street.. Clothing, furniture, housewares, fabric, toys, and other merchandise imported from China and Japan are described in the catalogue, and merchandise from Vantine's has been avidly collected over the years. Worldcat locates no copies of the 1916 edition. . First Edition. Pictorial Printed Wrappers. Very Good Plus/No Jacket, As Issued. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.