Japanese Prints

62
282
282. HILLIER, Jack. The Art of the Japanese Book.
Sotheby’s. 1987. £498
folio 2 volumes in original cloth with dust wrappers, preserved in
original slipcase. Illustrated with reproductions of over 900 prints.
A fine set.
first edition of Hillier’s magnum opus, the definitive work on the
Japanese Book. This copy inscribed by Hillier to his son “for Bevis
from his fond father. not the least of his benefactions”.
283. HOMMA, Takashi. Tokyo. New York, Aperture, 2008. £30
royal 8vo. (253 x 180 mm) photo-illustrated stiff card wrappers
with flaps; 239, [1]pp., illustrated throughout with colour photos;
fine.
first edition.
283
284
284. [JAPAN.] A Japanese Lacquer photograph Album. c.
1890. £1,750
Oblong folio (approx. 14 x 10?”). Original lacquered boards, upper
cover with image in gilt, colour and ivory onlays showing boatman
ferrying a woman across a river, original morocco spine, gilt-ruled
raised bands, a.e.g; containing 50 photographs, each approx. 206 x
265, the majority coloured, captioned in English and numbered in
the negative; very slightly rubbed, one small chip to edge of upper
board, some tissue-guards torn, else a splendidly preserved example
of the genre, contained in a purpose-made cloth box (worn).
This wonderful album and others like it were produced in Japan as
souvenirs, the photographs being selected from the studio catalogue
purposely for the album. The present excellent copy contains images
of scenes at Yokohama (the railway station and a boys’ parade),
Asakusa Tokyo, cherry blossom, iris gardens and maple trees in
Tokyo, Enishima, temples at nikko and the Inland Sea, views at
Hakone, another of Mount fuji, portraits of geishas, silk-weavers,
rice-planting, a grocer’s shop, a street-dancer, and a group portrait
of soldiers dressed in Samurai armour.