Classic Ehon, Illustrated Books and Maps

Click for catalogue: http://www.rarebook.com/ehon1.html


Greetings,


Spring brings rain, flowers and, at the Boston Book Company, catalogues.


Following up on our design book list which we published a few weeks ago, we have created a catalogue of traditional ehon, and included maps, botanicals [birds and flowers], fairy tales and original paintings currently in our inventory. There are some true rarities and icons of the illustrated book genre, works we are all familiar with from their appearance in the wonderful books done by Jack Hillier, Roger Keyes and others - kyokabon such as the Utamaro insect book in an early, lovely edition, painting manuals such as the Taigado Gahô and pure picture books like the Sekien Gafu, the Sônan Gafu and the Kiyonaga Ehon Muchi Bukuro. There are Kabuki classics like the Nendaiki, fan and scroll paintings by Shijô school masters and a wonderful set of small sliding doors painted by Keibun. Besides the Edo era material, there is a large triptych painting of Sapporo in a Nihonga style, as well as transitional works by Seihô and others which round out the traditional aesthetic in its 20th century manifestation.


There is really too much to discuss in this brief introduction. Please enjoy the accompanying list, which is being issued as a web catalogue, as well as a printed text. We will be happy to provide more information or images, should you be interested in any of the items within.


We are off to London for the ILAB Book Fair at Olympia next week, so do get back to us as soon as you are able.


Best wishes,


Charles Vilnis

Antique Maps and Prints

Hoefnagel's Cadiz, 1564
Here are a few samples of our antique maps - the first being a Hoefnagel from 1564:

(HOEFNAGEL, Joris). GADES AB OCCIDUIS INSULAE PARTIBUS. Double-page folio view of Cadiz, Spain, signed Georg Hoefnagel, 1564. From Volume V, no. 5. of CIVITATES ORBIS TERRARUM, Cologne, Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg (1572-98). Hand-colored. 14 1/2 by 19 1/2 inches. Light toning and wrinkling to margin; smudges to key panel and central fold, still a very good print. Of the artists involved in the Civitates, Hoefnagel was the most well-known, as calligrapher, painter, miniaturist and cartographer. A monk, a pilgrim, and fishermen are in the foreground of this peninsular city. Two vignettes show a fortress firing upon ships, and sailors gambling on the shore neared moored galleys. A leopard from the Indies and a toucan from Peru indicate Cadiz' foreign trade. (Koeman, Atlantes Neerlandici p.22). Offered at $750.00

Ortelius, Geographia Sacra, 1598.
ORTELIUS, Abraham. GEOGRAPHIA SACRA. Map of Europe, North Africa, Arabia, and Western Asia. (Antwerp) 1598. 17 1/2 by 21 1/2 in. (plate 13 3/4 by 18 3/4). Beautifully engraved, probably by Franz Hogenburg, and hand-colored. With insert miniature map of the world. A fine, clean copy, with only light toning to margin outside plate, and to center fold. Offered at $1,250.00

De Hooghe, Jerusalem, 1687
ETCHED BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF JERUSALEM
DE HOOGHE, Romeyn. JERUSALEM EN SYN TEMPEL. Netherlands, 1687. 15 by 21 1/2 inches. A splendid two-page spread showing an aerial reconstruction of ancient Jerusalem, with the Temple in the center. 35 ancient buildings, monuments and Biblical locations are labeled. The lower register shows the Temple's treasures in detail: the "Copper Sea," the Altar of Sacrifice, the Candelabra, the Ark of the Covenant, etc. In the foreground is Gethsemane, with the Betrayal of Christ. De Hooghe (1645-1708), a nephew of the painter Pieter de Hooch, was one of the finest of the Dutch seventeenth-century engravers. Central fold reinforced, with a one-inch repair at the foot, else fine. Text in Dutch on reverse. Offered at $325.00

Finley's New American Atlas, 1826 (Missouri & Arkansas Territory)
From Finley's New American Atlas, published in 1826, a double-folio sized hand-colored map of Missouri and Arkansas Territory, offered at $1,100.00

We have other maps from Finley's atlas, as well as bound atlases, local New England maps, and a variety of prints and etchings including our Japanese woodblock prints and woodblock print books.