1852. HUC, M. RECOLLECTIONS OF A JOURNEY THROUGH TARTARY, THIBET, AND CHINA, DURING THE YEARS 1844, 1845, AND 1846. (Appleton's Popular Library). New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1852. Later printing, complete in two volumes. 12mo. red cloth; vol.1: 245pp. + ads, vol.2: 248pp. + ads. Spine-pieces missing. Otherwise good. .

Boston Book CompanyProfessional seller

Book number: 40366

Catalogue: Japan and East Asia

ONCHI KōSHIRō 恩地孝四郎

ZōShohyō Shishu 蔵書票 四種

1952. Onchi Kōshirō 恩地孝四郎. Zōshohyō Shishu 蔵書票 四種 Shōwa 27 [1952]. Gohachi 五八. Tokyo Number 4 of a limited edition of 7 copies. A single sheet folded three times to a rectangular 10.5 x 11.5cm opens fully to 10.5 x 46cm. Title printed in Japanese text on front with publisher's hanko on rear. 4 original color woodblock bookplates are tipped in with place name and book owner's name in handwritten Japanese text under, or in one case next to, each work. The largest of the color bookplates is 8 x 6cm; others are 5 x 5cm, 4.5 x 7.5cm and 4 x 5.75cm. Onchi Kōshirō 恩地孝四郎 (1891-1955) and his work need no introduction - he is considered the most important Japanese printmaker of the mid-Century and one of the most innovative and creative of all time. As a leader of the Sosaku Hanga Creative Print movement, he guided the development of many of the dominant figures of post-war art until his premature death in the 1950's. Slight foxing on backing paper, otherwise good condition. Obviously a rare item, as indicated by its limitation. .

Boston Book CompanyProfessional seller

Book number: 90470

Catalogue: Japan and East Asia

MIYAMOTO KYōSHIRō 宮本匡四郎

ZōShohyō Sakuhinshū: Dai Ikkai Ekisu Riburishu No Kai 蔵書票 作品集: 第一回 えきす　りぶりすの会

1958. Miyamoto Kyōshirō 宮本匡四郎. Zōshohyō Sakuhinshū: Dai Ikkai ekisu riburishu no kai 蔵書票 作品集: 第一回 えきす　りぶりすの会. Showa 33 [1958]. Gabara Gabō がばら画房. Tokyo. 11.7 x 14cm hardcover book opening Japanese style with decorated, printed title slip is housed in a box 12.5 x 15cm with printed title slip. One of a limited edition of 30. 17 original polychrome woodblock prints tipped in with title slip and title index also tipped in. Original woodcut bookplates, most of the female form, in both representational and abstract styles, with the book owner's name in English or Japanese text. Very fine condition. .

Boston Book CompanyProfessional seller

Book number: 90473

Catalogue: Japan and East Asia

SHōJU 松寿 [SHōRAKUSAI]

TōKaidō Fukei No Zu 東海道風景の図

Shōju 松寿 [Shōrakusai]. Tōkaidō Fukei no Zu 東海道風景の図 [The album of Tōkaidō paintings] Late 18th - Early 19th C. 34 x 37cm orihon folding album with brushed title slip housed in an old chitsu with clasps 34 x 38.5cm with brushed title slip. There are 70 full page scenes from the Tōkaidō, each 34 x 37cm. Painted here by Shōju 松寿　[Roberts p, 152, under "Shōrakusai." An Osaka painter from the late 18th, early 19th century]. Very skillful work in a large double-sided album. Since it inscribes many more stations than the codified 53 stations (55 with the origin and terminus), it provides an even fuller view of the Tōkaidō in the mid to late Edo. Elegiac and lovely scenes. Shōju was known as a Kansai ukiyo-e school artist. Complete from Nihonbashi in Edo to Sanjō Ōhashi in Kyōto. With a bit of repaired worming here and there. A beautiful work. .

Boston Book CompanyProfessional seller

Book number: 90468

Catalogue: Japan and East Asia

[HōHi Gassen 放屁合戦 and YōButsu Kurabe 腰物くらべ ] [Farting Match and Phallic Competition]

[2 unmounted scrolls] [kachi-e emaki]. [hōhi gassen 放屁合戦 and yōbutsu kurabe 腰物くらべ ] [farting match and phallic competition]. Edo Period. [yōbutsu kurabe 腰物くらべ ] [phallic competition]. Paper scroll approx 38cm x 4m with over 50 drawings of men, some of whom are engaged in phallic displays. Color, unsigned, no date. Writing in pencil on back of scroll at one end with a number printed in red. In this scroll, the yōbutsu kurabe 腰物くらべ (phallic comparison or contest), groups of men display their significantly sized members to judges and competitors or watch the proceedings. One exciting aspect of our scroll is that it appears that the artist is aware of the Mitsui Museum Kachi-e emaki or one of its copies, as the scenes and certain specific details reflect that iconic scroll. The initial scene shows a surging crowd that has gathered around a screen being held at bay by two guards with bows. Further on, some competitors sit waiting by a table, while others are being measured with what appears to be a rope and by a judge with a ruler. The scroll ends with an overweight competitor with a fan sitting with other men by a striped screen. Details such as this and the unusual shape of a guard's head, the stripes on the screens, the official with the ruler and the overall position of the men in each scene, duplicate that of the Mitsui Museum handscroll, though with less proficiency of the brush. The scroll is unmounted, with fraying to the edges, rips at top and bottom and toning throughout. Repairs to the back along seams in places. Large holes at the beginning of the scroll and dampstaining that affect the artwork. [hōhi gassen 放屁合戦] [farting match] Paper scroll approx 38cm x 687cm with over 40 drawings of men engaged in displays of gaseous emissions. Color, unsigned, no date. In this hōhi gassen 放屁合戦 (or he-gassen 屁合戦), farting match, the path of the gas is colored a mustard-yellow and extends further than one would think possible. Men take aim to simultaneously attack and impress their fellow competitors. The scroll is unmounted, with fraying to the edges and toning throughout. Various repairs to the back along seams in places and rips at top, largely unaffecting the artwork. The themes of formal farting matches and phallic competitions can be traced back to the medieval period in Japan. The oldest and perhaps most well-known of the genre known as kachi-e 勝絵 (competition or victory art) is held by the Mitsui Memorial Art Museum (Mitsui Kinen Bijyutsukan 三井記念美術館). In the scroll, both matches are included in one scroll (the yōbutsu kurabe preceding the hōhi gassen). There is also a hōhi gassen 放屁合戦 handscroll in the Suntory Museum of Art dated 1449. Though there are no clear winners in either of these types of scrolls, it is clear that each man is certainly trying his best. We are offering the scrolls together as from an examination of the artwork, size and paper quality, it seems that the same artist drew both of our scrolls, and because there is evidence that kachi-e emaki originally consisted of two handscrolls, one of each type of battle. If you find the conceit of an artistic scroll with such competitions difficult to believe, please see the academic research by Yano, Akiko. "Historiography of the 'Phallic Contest' Handscroll in Japanese Art." Japan Review, no. 26, 2013, pp. 59-82. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41959817. Accessed 10 July 2020. https://nichibun.repo.nii.ac.jp/?.

Boston Book CompanyProfessional seller

Book number: 90652

Catalogue: Japan and East Asia

ONCHI KōSHIRō 恩地孝四郎

[Abstract Oil Painting]

1919. Onchi Kōshirō 恩地孝四郎. [Abstract Oil Painting]. Oil painting approx 41 x 32 cm in image size, an abstract(ish) still life with an apple, done while Onchi was quite young in about 1919. It is signed by him and is quite unusual in its embrace of abstraction (with a hint of the very influential Mr. Cezanne). Not for the fact of the abstract image itself, but rather for the medium. Oil paintings by Onchi are by no means common as he largely abandoned the medium by the 20s. Nor are his abstractions unknown, as he frequently created woodblock prints in an abstract mode and is, indeed, credited with the first fully abstract print in Japan [AKARUI TOKI] which appeared in his TSUKUHAE magazine number V in 1915. Nor is Cezanne's influence on the Japanese art world through his still lifes unknown, either. But this painting, combining oil and abstraction and a bit of Cezanne, makes for a remarkable piece, both historically and aesthetically. .

Boston Book CompanyProfessional seller

Book number: 90566

Catalogue: Japan and East Asia

Boston Herald and Its History

1878. BOSTON HERALD AND ITS HISTORY. 1846-1878. Boston, 1878. 8vo. 93pp. 6 plates. Brown cloth, stamped in gilt and black to front and blindstamped to rear. Moderate wear to extremities. Corners lightly bumped. Interior of front hinge starting to crack but still tight. Bookstore sticker to front pastedown, stamp to verso of frontis. Contains six heliotype plates of the interior of the New Herald building on Washington St. Scarce. .

Boston Book CompanyProfessional seller

Book number: 89543

Catalogue: Photography

ONCHI KōSHIRō 恩地孝四郎

[ChūGoku FūKei Chinese Landscape #6] [中国風景 6号]. [Oil Painting]

1939. Onchi Kōshirō 恩地孝四郎. [Chūgoku Fūkei Chinese Landscape #6] [中国風景 6号]. [Oil Painting]. [1939]. Image size approx 41 x 32cm and frame size approx 54.5 x 45.5cm. Oil on canvas. Signed by the artist. Oil painting of a landscape likely exhibited at the show, Onchi Kōshirō Shina Fūkei Gaten 恩地孝四郎支那風景画展 [Onchi Kōshirō Chinese Landscapes Art Exhibit] held at the Shinjuku branch of Isetan Department Store in October of 1939 when Onchi was 48 years old. (See "Gendai Bijutsu" 現代美術 [Modern Art] Vol 7-2.) As were many other important Japanese artists during the Chinese conflict and Pacific War, he was sent by the armed forces in 1939 to record the war on the ground. Much like Yoshida Hiroshi, he captured both beauty and pathos in China as the war ground on. .

Boston Book CompanyProfessional seller

Book number: 90571

Catalogue: Japan and East Asia

TACHIKA CHIKUSON 田近竹邨

Chikuson Jihitsu Gachō 竹邨自筆画帳

Tachika Chikuson 田近竹邨 Chikuson Jihitsu Gachō 竹邨自筆画帳. N.p. Early 20th century. No colophon. Signed, with artist's seal. Orihon folding album with fabric boards and gilt edges 24 x 18cm is housed in a modern brown chitsu with clasps 24.5 x 18.5cm. 12 monochrome and color paintings approx. 21.5 x 15.5cm depicting Chinese landscapes are painted on silk and laid down on metallic speckled boards. First and last paintings in the album include Japanese text. This early 20th century work explores the 12 months of the year through Chinese landscapes that depict the passing of the seasons. Chikuson (1863-1922) established painting academies in Japan and went on to teach within these schools. His work was exhibited multiple times at the Bunten exhibition (officially known as the Monbushō Bijutsu Tenrankai 文部省美術展覧会) sponsored by the Ministry of Education and he accumulated 5 awards from the exhibition over the years. Chikuson was a student of Tanomura Chokunyū 田能村直入 (1814-1907) who himself was a student of Chikuden. Chokunyū was a master of the Nanga 南画 school of painting, also known as Bunjinga 文人画, which focused primarily on Chinese landscapes. Boards show wear; very slight worming of some pages. Fine condition. .

Boston Book CompanyProfessional seller

Book number: 90450

Catalogue: Japan and East Asia

HIROTA HYAKUHO 広田百豊

[Emaki Zodiacal Animal Handscroll]

Hirota Hyakuho 広田百豊. ZODIACAL ANIMAL SCROLL. 33 x 626.5cm approx total length (25.5cm blank decorative paper at start and 19cm at end). On heavy paper in a brocade cover with bone jiku. Signed and sealed by Hirota Hyakuho 広田百豊. 12 animals of the zodiac depicted by a skilled hand. Hirota Hyakuho 広田百豊 is the artist name of Hirota Saiichiro 広田才一郎 (1876 - 1955), a pupil of internationally recognized Nihonga artist Takeuchi Seihō 竹内栖鳳 (1864 - 1942). Hirota received awards over multiple years at the Ministry of Education Arts Exhibition (Bunten 文部省美術展覧会). .

Boston Book CompanyProfessional seller

Book number: 90502

Catalogue: Japan and East Asia

SHIBATA ZESHIN 柴田 是真

Hana Kurabe - Rokuhen 花くらべ 　六編

Shibata Zeshin 柴田 是真. Hana Kurabe - Rokuhen 花くらべ 　六編. [1875-1890] Edo? Shugyokudo. A small 18 x 12cm orihon with gilt edges. No colophon. 12 images with Zeshin's hanko (真) on one page. Lovely florals, in landscape and pictorial settings, done in bright tones. Shibata Zeshin 柴田 是真 (1807 - 1891) was an important artist in the Edo and early Meiji period who was well-known as a lacquerer, lacquer painter, book illustrator and ehon artist. He was known for his Rimpa style, here seen in his colorful renditions of blossoms. Published by Shugyokudo between 1875 and 1890 in ten fascicles with 120 prints (ten prints each) [Information from Richard Kruml of London from his website describing an original painting from the series.] Here the 6th gathering, with its 12 double page prints, is bound in a cloth covered orihon folding album. Zeshin was trained as a lacquer painter and lacquer designer. His works on paper and in objet are much collected. Zeshin was also the teacher of Watanabe Seitei. One seldom sees this work as a whole series of 12. I have never seen a full set of 120, bound or not. Front cover is stained with foxing to title slip. Slight foxing on some pages. .

Boston Book CompanyProfessional seller

Book number: 90420

Catalogue: Japan and East Asia

INDEPENDENT 1924-1925

Independent 1924-1925

1924. (INDEPENDENT 1924-1925). THE INDEPENDENT 1924-1925. We offer a lot consisting of about 180 typewritten sheets with many additions in holograph, part of the type-setter's copy for various issues of THE INDEPENDENT from Sept. 1924 through Jan. 1925. In several cases the manuscripts differ slightly from the printed versions. The lot comprises: about 80 pages of book reviews (titles reviewed range from Huxley's LITTLE MEXICAN to Babbitt's DEMOCRACY AND LEADERSHIP); 50 pages of feature articles (analyses of the 1924 Presidential Campaign, "Distinguished Realities--What Modern Novelists are Seeking," etc..); 40 pages of editorials, notes on contributors, letters to the editor; and about ten pages of tables of contents, advertising for the subsequent issues, etc.. A large part of the material is for the issue of Sept. 27, 1924, a "Special Fall Book Number." THE INDEPENDENT was a journal published in Boston weekly or fortnightly from 1848 to 1928. Dealing particularly with politics and economics, it was also concerned with cultural and environmental issues. Its advertising stresses the paper's "middle ground", unprejudiced standpoint. The lot is in good condition, with only the wear to be expected from the nature of the material. .

Boston Book CompanyProfessional seller

Book number: 55419

4 Issues of Gofuku 呉服

4 issues of Gofuku 呉服.Tokyo. Ichida Shōten 市田商店. Four kimono magazines published by a Tokyo kimono and obi store with branches in Tokyo and Kyoto. Green birds in birdcage - Shōwa 8 [1933] June #122　昭和八年　六月　百二十二呉.　 Blue/white/green - Shōwa 8 [1933] August #124　昭和八年　八月　百二十四呉. Gray - Shōwa 10 [1935] February #141 昭和十年 百四十一呉. Red - Shōwa 13 [1938] January #176 昭和十三年　一月　百七十六號. Green birds in birdcage - Shōwa 8 [1933] June #122　昭和八年　六月　百二十二呉. 26 x 19cm kimono textile magazine with light and dark green decorative covers. 8 pages, including front and rear covers. Lovely cover artwork of birds in a cage on front and rear wrappers. Articles in Japanese text on kimono, fabrics and patterns and a loosely drawn cartoon. Vertical fold on front cover through to inside. Blue/white/green - Shōwa 8 [1933] August #124　昭和八年　八月　百二十四呉. 26 x 19cm kimono textile magazine with blue and green decorative covers. 12 pages, including front and rear covers. 2 inserts of 4 pages laid in. 2 small holes near spine (stabbed binding?). Charming cover artwork with a stylized women's figure wraps around to rear wrapper. Articles in Japanese text on kimono, fabrics and patterns. 6 small swatches of fabrics for fall laid down. Color illustrations of fabrics and photo of display of bolted fabrics. One insert focuses on variations of the chrysanthemum design, accompanied by black and white illustrations. Black and white illustrations throughout. Vertical fold on front cover through to inside. Gray - Shōwa 10 [1935] February #141 昭和十年 百四十一呉. 26 x 19cm kimono textile magazine with multicolor decorative wrappers. 12 pages including front and rear covers. Very appealing cover artwork of a wintery scene wraps around to rear cover. Articles in Japanese text on kimono, fabrics and patterns with black and white illustrations and photos. Article with photos of actress Mori Kakuko 森赫子 (1914-1986) in kimono and modern dress. Rust-like stain on front cover through to inside front wrapper. Vertical fold on front cover through to inside. Red -　Shōwa 13 [1938] January #176 昭和十三年　一月　百七十六號. 26 x 18.5cm kimono textile magazine with multicolor decorative wrappers. 12 pages including front and rear covers. Beautiful cover artwork of Japanese landscapes wraps around to rear cover. Articles in Japanese text on kimono, fabrics and patterns with illustrations and photos. Vertical fold on front cover through to inside. $200 for 4. .