KOCHO GAFU Ni-hen å é ç"»è äºç - Rare Book Insider
book (2)

KOCHO GAFU Ni-hen å é ç”»è äºç

[EHON] Ueda KOCHO ä ç"°å é (1788-1850), artist. KOCHO GAFU Ni-hen å é ç"»è äºç . Osaka: Honya Kichibei & Kawachiya Kihei, Kaei 3 [1850]. Two volumes, yellow covers with original title labels, string-bound Japanese-style, fukuro toji. 25.4 x 18.2 cm. The second series of illustrations, following the original KO^CHO^ GAFU of 1834, published by the same firms. See Mitchell 369-70. An interesting group of human figures, animals, landscapes, etc., from the sedate to the humorous, in a restrained Shijo-influenced style, printed in light colors. The covers are a bit soiled, but the impressions and colors are very good. Complete as issued. Much more unusual to find than the original series. Kocho was a late and influential Shijo school painter in Kansai.
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TaigadÅ GahŠ大éåç"»æ

TaigadÅ GahŠ大éåç”»æ , 3 Vols

TaigadÅ GahŠ大éåç"»æ , 3 Vols Ike no Taiga æ±å¤§é, artist Shinshosai çè æ, publisher Bunka Gannen æååå [1804] 3 volumes 30 x 19.5cm bound Japanese-style, fukuro-toji with off-white wrappers and title slips. TaigadÅ GahŠ大éåç"»æ [Taigado's Pictorial Methods] is a painting manual with original woodblock prints and Japanese script throughout. The double-page woodcuts, mostly black and white and 3 with color, depict trees, landscape, stones and figures in Ike no Taiga's æ±å¤§é (1723-1776) distinctive Nanga style. Nanga åç"» (Southern painting), also known as Bunjinga æ人ç"» (literati painting), was a school of Japanese painting that used traditional Chinese painting techniques. Volume pages are marked ä (jyo, upper), ä (chu, middle) or ä (ge lower) and each vol has 27 cho. Vol 1 has 25 double page woodcuts, Vol 2 has 26 and Vol 3 has 25 followed by a double-page of script and a double-page colophon. The initial volume begins with a double page of seal script and printed hanko. Vol 1 has 2 color woodcuts and Vol 2 has 1 with color. A wonderful compendium of Taiga's painting methods, originally painted by him for his wife, Gyokuran, also a noted painter, as a painting guide. When the TaigadÅ Gafu was being prepared as a memorial after his death, the GahÅ was prepared for publication as well. See Mitchell pp. 510, Ravicz plate 7, Hillier pp.627-32 and Brown p. 88. Housed in a multicolor brocade chitsu with a circular pattern and clasps. Wear and dust staining to wrappers and partial title slips. Repair work done to rear wrapper of Vol 3. Very good printing.
book (2)

SHIN NIGAO-E æ°ä¼¼é¡”çµµ Five issues, complete

[THEATRE]. Natori Shunsen ååæ¥ä», Yamamura Kouka å±±æ'èè±, è±æ, Torii Kotondo é ¥å±è 人, Ishii Hakutei ç äºæäº, et al. SHIN NIGAO-E æ°ä¼¼é¡"çµµ Five issues, complete. Volume one: 18.5 X 12.4 cm. Original covers, beige. The abbreviated title, "Shin nigao" and volume number are printed directly on the cover. On the right is the publication date, June 1, Taisho 4 (1915), and a note that subsequent numbers will be published on the first day of each month. Table of contents. Preface by Kinoshita Sataro. The fourteen color woodcut portraits are by Natori Shunsen (5), Matsuda Seifü (4), Yamamura Koka (3), Torii Kotondo (1), and Ogawa Heibei (1). Block cutter: Igami Bonkotsu. Printer: Nakamura Sanjiro. The text on actors and roles are mainly printed on tissue interleaves. Colophon page, dated June 1, Taisho 4 (1915). Compiler: Egawa Kinpei. Published by Nigao-do. Volume two: 25.5 X 18.5 cm. Covers, light blue. The abbreviated title and volume number are printed directly on the cover. The first actor print is pasted to the cover, credited internally to Natori Shunsen. Front endpaper, table of contents. The fourteen woodcut portraits are by Shunsen (4, including the cover), Koka (3), Terazawa Kotaro (2), Isshii Hakutei (2), Matsuda Seifu (2), Heibei (1). Colophon, dated July 1, Taisho 4; otherwise as for Vol. one. Volume three: 25.2 X 18.7 cm. Covers, beige. Title and volume number, as for Vol. two. The first actor print is pasted to the cover, as above. The fourteen actor portraits: Shunsen (5), Seifu (3), Hakutei (3), Koka (2), and Heibei (1). Colophon dated Aug. 1; otherwise, as above. Volume four: 26 X 18.4 cm. Covers, light blue, in the same format as above. The fourteen actor portraits: Shunsen (5), Koka (4), Hakutei (2), Seifü (2), Heibei (1). Colophon dated Oct. 1; otherwise, as above. Back cover, an ad for the forthcoming special Coronation issue of Shin nigao. Volume five: 24.8 X 18.2 cm. Covers, grey paper embedded with green fibers over stiff boards, bound with green silk tassels. The title, Shin nigao-e kinen-go: Tairei Hoshoku gafu (Shin nigao: Special Coronation Number) is printed directly on the cover. The format is basically the same, but two special sections have been added: five portraits of officials associated with Emperor Taisho's coronation, and five portraits of geisha from Tokyo and Kyoto. The remaining eleven prints are of actors, for a total of twenty-one color woodcuts: Shunsen (11), Heibei (3), Seifu (3), Ishizuka Kan (2), Kondo Hiroshi (1), and Koito Gentaro (1). Colophon, dated Nov. 1, Taisho 4 (1915); otherwise, as above. The complete run of this scarce periodical is enclosed in a specially made clasped chitsu case. The magazines and prints are clean. Very unusual complete, with all the many prints intact. Volume three: 25.2 X 18.7 cm. Covers, beige. Title and volume number, as for Vol. two. The first actor print is pasted to the cover, as above. The fourteen actor portraits: Shunsen (5), Seifu (3), Hakutei (3), Koka (2), and Heibei (1). Colophon dated Enclosed in a custom made clasped chitsu. Good to very good condition.
book (2)
book (2)

Baichiku Rangiku [Album of Plum, Bamboo, Orchid and Chrysanthemum]. Baichiku Rangiku æ¢ç« èè [Album of Plum, Bamboo, Orchid and Chrysanthemum]

Baichiku Rangiku [Album of Plum, Bamboo, Orchid and Chrysanthemum]. Baichiku Rangiku æ¢ç« èè [Album of Plum, Bamboo, Orchid and Chrysanthemum] Kyoto 1710ãA single volume 28. 1 x 19. 4cm string-bound, Japanese style fukuro-toji with the original dark blue-green wrappers and the original printed paper title label. [52] cho of preliminary text followed by original, black and white woodblock prints of the 4 types of botanicals in the title, with Japanese text within the woodcuts. Baichiku Rangiku [Album of Plum, Bamboo, Orchid and Chrysanthemum] is one volume of an 8 volume set entitled Hasshu Gafu å«ç ®ç"»è, originally published in Ming-era China. The Ming edition is unobtainable and the first Japanese edition of 1672 virtually so. This is almost certainly one of the volumes of the 1710 Kyoto edition, printed by Nakagawa Mohei. "Hasshu Gafu" literally translates as "A Collection of Eight Illustrated Sketchbooks." The books in the collection had no intrinsic connection with each other, save that they were heavily illustrated in woodcut. Some, like this one, are done on a botanical theme, others are illustrated poetry collections. In any event, the Hasshu Gafu had a great deal of influence on the Chinese style painters of the early Edo period once it was published there, an influence that only started to fade upon the import from China of the color printed "Mustard Seed Garden" and Ten Bamboo Hall." Wear to wrappers with rips and chipping at spine and edges. Wear and rip to title slip. Bottom section of binding is unstitched and some pages are split. Artwork is in overall good condition, good impressions. A remarkably lovely sumi-e botanical.
KINSEI KIJIN-DEN

KINSEI KIJIN-DEN

[EHON] Mikuma Katen, artist [EHON] Mikuma Katen, artist. KINSEI KIJIN-DEN, 5 vols. Kyoto, Hishiya Magobei, et al. Kansei 2 [1790]. String-bound Japanese-style fukuro toji, in textured blue-grey covers with printed paper title labels. 37 single page and 2 double page b+w woodcuts, largely depicting the subject matter of the title: TALES OF ECCENTRICS FROM RECENT YEARS. Originally printed, as here, in 1790, this is a deservedly famous and oft-reprinted work in Japan. This is probably a relatively early reprint. It has Wonderful thin paper. The KIJIN_DEN catalogues the eccentricities and eccentrics of the late 18th Century - a time of florescence of the "bunjin" literati ideal in Japan. The bunjin created an esthetically pure environment in the midst of the bustle (and corruption) of everyday life. The initial exemplars were those scholars and artists who withdrew from public life in China after the fall of the Ming Dynasty to the alien Manchus in the mid-17th Century. The KIJIN-DEN represents one of the efforts by the Japanese to domesticate a Chinese cultural import and find native representatives of the literati ideal. It should be noted that this guide came out just as the Kansei Reforms, with a decidedly Confucian, if not authoritarian, bent, had just been promulgated. The "kijin" or literatus might well chafe under such a "reform" agenda. This book even well be seen as a bit of cultural protest on behalf of the individual ideal. The KIJIN-DEN is interesting for its exploration of the art world in Japan- for example, there is a domestic scene of the painters Ikeno Taiga and wife Gyokuran, among others. (Unfortunately, it is the only torn woodcut with part of the image missing) Indeed, there are many women depicted in the KIJIN-DEN. (See JAPANESE WOMEN ARTISTS 1600-1900) Also see Ryerson 416, Mitchell 364, Hillier/Ravicz 22. The condition is good over all, the printings are fair to good. There was a second series done some few years later, but this first series is complete as issued in 5 volumes.
  • $975