Japanese Art

Tokyo: Executive Committee of the Frankfurt Book Fair, 1990. Book. Fine. Paperbound. printed paper wraps, paperbound with dust jacket, gilt wraps, 159 pages, illustrated, (numerous full color illustrations, Includes index. Japanese books from the earliest to the present. Illustrations include, scrolls, Buddist texts, illuatrated books, scientific works, novels. a bright copy. a very large folio measuring 14 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches, ( 36.5 x 26 cm) will require extra post. Size: Foilio, (37 cm.).

Milan: Electa Architecture, 2005. Signed by Waro Kishi. First edition / First printing. Black paper-covered boards. Very fine in very fine dust jacket.

Purple silk covered boards with gilt lettering to front; black title to spine & gilt decoration to rear. Includes a ten foot x 16.5 inch folded print entitled Daisekai no Saku "Ken" Kamigami Yori Jinrui E. Jacket has two closed tears; other wise a fine copy in a vibrant purple cloth by Wada Book Binding, Tokyo. Large (15x30 cm) bold brush & ink signature by Munakata to front free fly. Number 2813 of only 3000 copies in the original Japanese.; Folio 30x43 cm; 222 pages; Signed by Artist; All shipments through USPS insured Priority Mail. .

Boston: J. B. Millet Company, 1898. First Edition Thus . Hardcover. Very Good. Illustrated By K. Ogawa (Flower Collotypes), Kozaburo Tamamura (Hand Colored Albumen Photographs). Section Ten Only, Volume 10 Of 10, Pages 347-382 + Table Of Contents Only, Uncut Double Pages, Three Large (8 X 10 In) Hand Colored Albumen Pictures, 1 Large Round Color Collotype By K. Ogawa Of Flowers, And 18 Colored Photographs Mounted In The Text. The Four Large Hand Colored Albumen Photographs Are The Great Bell At Choin-In Temple, Kyoto, Tmangwanji Temple At Nikko, Washing Kiminos, And Village Wrecked By Earthquake. #75 Of 100 Copies Of The Imperial Edition, Bound In Olive-Grey Silk With Mounted Title And Decorations In Heavier Silk, Endpapers Are Japanese Paper With Embedded Gilt Squares And Specks. The Boards And Pages Are Bound With Cords. Silk Is Clean But With Some Wear At Edges And Worn Through Along Lower Edge Of Boards And Spine.

Ithaca: Cornell University Press [0-8014-1488-1] 1982. (4to) 208pp. Very good plus in very good plus dust jacket. Frontispiece, black and white and color illustrations, map, glossary, bibliography, indices. The top and bottom of the spine are no longer crisp and there is a previous owner's inscription on the front free endpaper. "The stock subjects of Japanese prints - women, actors, and landscapes - have received much scholarly attention, but the warrior-prints have been somewhat neglected, chiefly because a full appreciation of them depends on knowledge of the legends and characters depicted. B. W. Robinson, a renowned Kuniyoshi scholar, fillls this need by telling the stories most frequently portrayed. Kuniyoshi was one of the most prolific of the Ukiyo-e artists, and in the descriptive catalogue of the warrior-prints, which forms the greater part of this volume, Robinson lists over 350 triptychs (large three-sheet compositions) and some 1,500 single-sheet scenes arranged in… Read More

Kodansha, 2009. Paperback with dust jacket. Used- Fine condition. Book is in Japanese. Book is clean and tight. Book shows very light shelf wear. Very light scuffing along to top edges of the dust jacket. Small tear on the top right corner of the bottom black banner on the front cover. No markings on the inside of the book.Photos are of the book we have here at Barbed Wire Books.

New York: Asia Society Museum / Harry N. Abrams: 2010. First edition / First printing. Illustrated laminated boards in die-cut illustrated slipcase. Very fine in a very fine slipcase.

Reprint from the 1880s of ukiyo-e artist Masanobu Okumura's depiction of nightlife in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters in the Edo era.Masanobu Okumura (1686-1764) was a Japanese print designer, book publisher, illustrator and painter.This orihon concertina-style book includes 38 double-page illustrations of geisha with their maids and samurai customers, playing board games and cards, smoking tobacco pipes, playing shamisen, reading books, etc. One plate shows the artist Okumura painting a large screen. 38 woodblock prints printed in three colors on 76 pages bound in orihon concertina-style with decorative washi paper over boards.Condition: binding repaired with washi paper, interior bright and fresh with no spotting.

Rare volume on camellias from Kan'en Iwasaki's multi-volume botanical series Honzo Zufu (Iconographia Plantarum), originally compiled in 1828 and later published in 92 volumes. This volume, number 88 in the series, includes 10 pages of text and index of camellia species, and 47 color woodcuts of Camellia japonica varieties.Condition: Washi paper covers scuffed, but interior very clean, strong impressions of color plates with vivid color.Kan'en Iwasaki or Tsunemasa Iwasaki (1786–1842) was a Japanese botanist, zoologist and entomologist. His botanical studies were influenced by Johann Weinmann.

Woodblock reprint of two famous Japanese picture scrolls which recorded the unsuccessful Mongol invasions of Japan in the 13th century.The scrolls were originally drawn between 1275 and 1293 for the samurai Suenaga Takezaki to record his battlefield valor and deeds during Kublai Khan's attempted invasions of Japan. The scrolls depict the Battle of Bun'ei in 1274 and the Battle of Koan in 1281.
Complete in 3 volumes, with 66 pages with 56 color plates in vol. 1, 54 pages with 33 color plates in vol. 2, and 100 pages with 54 color plates in vol. 3. Edited by Beisai Kubota.Condition: paper covers slightly worn, a few pages browned (mostly Japanese text pages) but plates bright and vivid.

Japan: Yokohama Seishi Bunsha, 1895. First Edition. Rare English-language guide to Japanese domestic wares, with 76 fully-illustrated items. Its publication came at a time when Japan was experiencing a dramatic shift from the conservative, isolationist policies of the sh gun-dominated Edo period to the rapid and widespread drive to modernise and engage with the rest of the world that characterizes the Meiji Restoration. This booklet focuses on a traditional domestic interior and features a beautiful double-page plate showing the layout and arrangement of a Japanese period home, showing respective zones for food preparation, cooking and the entertainment of guests. Items specifically illustrated and described include lacquer wares, a charcoal-burning stove, lanterns, wooden buckets and items used in the tea ceremony. A beautiful copy of a scarce work published for the English market. Bibliography: Not in Cordier or Nipponalia.; Rogala Jozef 'A Collector's Guide to Books on Japan in English', 783.… Read More

174 pp. photo-illustrated book. Folio. Limited to 2000. Very good. Illus. dust wrapper over cloth covers, housed in pictorial boards case. [787]
This copy boldly dedicated by Ed Hardy to Jonathan Shaw; a unique copy with fine associations.

Portland, OR: Nazraeli Press, 2015. Original black and white Type-C print signed by Daido Moriyama in gold ink on the front of the image it is tipped in. First edition / First printing. Limited edition. Number 437 of 500 copies. Metallic laminated boards. Very fine. The 90th publication in the Nazraeli Press One Picture Book series.

Rare complete copy of Keika Hasegawa's Keika Hyakugiku (100 chrysanthemums by Keika)(The British Museum only has Volumes 1 and 2, the Smithsonian only 2 and 3.)75 colour woodblock prints (all published), including eight double-page, from this seminal book on the cultivation of chrysanthemums. Volumes 1 and 2 published in July 1893 and Volume 3 published in December 1903. Chrysanthemum cultivation came to Japan from China in the 8th century and the flower was later adopted as the Emperor's crest. Over the centuries, extraordinary hybrids of elegant shapes and vibrant colours were produced, many of which are recorded in this book.Little is known about the artist Keika Hasegawa. (The name Keika is usually a woman's name.) Active in the final years of the 19th century, he also produced books of patterns for kimono and washi paper such as Biko Zukan (Art Book) 1894, and Kyoka Zuan (Patterns of Kyoto), 1897. Original wraps are grubby and worn, interior slightly browned and edges worn. A few prints with… Read More

Book. Fine. Soft cover. Pictorial printed paper wrappers with 12 color-printed explicit scenes and 16 pages of text in Japanese, string bound on the right in the Japanese style. 7" x4 3/4". No date or publisher stated, circa. 1860. Very near fine condition, with one small stain and some light chipping on back cover. Rarely seen in this condition..