SHIMIZU, SEIFU (Illustrator) & NISHIZAWA, TEHIKO (Illustrator): - Unai no Tomo (The Child's Friends). Ten volumes. Kyoto, Unsodo, Meiji 24-Taisho (1891-1923).

. A complete set comprising ten volumes devoted to Japanese traditional children's toys. Comprises more than 420 pages with numerous coloured woodcuts of toys with printed captions in Japanese. Leaves are folded in the traditional Japanese manner. Bound in original decorated paper wrappers, paper labels on upper covers. (First six volumes in beige paper, and the remaining four in orange paper, as issued). Housed in a very delicate, custom-made box. First edition of this highly artistic and important work sometimes considered "the Bible for all serious toy amateurs". Seifu Shimizu (1851-1913) was a student of Hiroshige III and studied poetry with Kozando Sangetsu. He was the leading Meiji collector of omocha, toys handmade from common materials. In 1880 he founded the Takeuma-kai (Hobbyhorse Club) dedicated to "the merry and nostalgic enjoyment of children's toys" and in 1906 he curated the Kodomo Hakurankai (Children's Exhibition) which was the first known exhibition of Japanese folk toys in Japan. Shimizu studied and prepared himself for this work for a long time. He died during the publication, but his manuscript was found and four additional volumes (in orange-coloured wrappers) were published by Tekiho Nishizawa. The woodcuts are of very high quality and printed in bright, intense colours. Some of the prints have additional hand-applied colour, and others are highlighted with gold and silver. A wonderful copy of this important ethnographic work. Uncommon, especially complete in first edition. Hundreds of color plates, mostly single page, with a few double page as well. The pigments are very bright, and include some metallic inks. The overall colors, condition and printing of the set are very good. An excellent resource for mingei as well as the history of toys, as the images are all captioned in Japanese. It should be noted that the first six volumes were created before Shimizu SeifÅÇ's death in 1913. Nishizawa took over the publication as editor, so we have all of the Shimizu works and the first of those by Nishizawa, printed in 1917.lumes 1 through 7 of 10 published Kyoto, UnsÅ dÅ , 1891-1924. A complete series of color illustrations of traditional Japanese toys, published over the course of more than 30 years. Hundreds of color plates, mostly single page, with a few double page as well. The pigments are very bright, and include some metallic inks. The overall colors, condition and printing of the set are very good. An excellent resource for mingei as well as the history of toys, as the images are all captioned in Japanese. It should be noted that the first six volumes were created before Shimizu SeifÅÇ's death in 1913. Nishizawa took over the publication as editor, so we have all of the Shimizu works and the first of those by Nishizawa, printed in 1917. Priced accordingly. The most important work of its kind, seldom found outside Japan. A very nice copy. B oston Eur 1750

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