Kanchū Kanpon 閑中閑本 (Ezo Futsubutsu Jō 蝦夷風物帖), 27 vols.
1946. Item #87950
Kanchū Kanpon 閑中閑本 (Ezo Futsubutsu Jō 蝦夷風物帖), 27 vols.
Maekawa Senpan 前川千帆 (also Sempan)
Nihon Aisho-kai 日本愛書会, publisher
Showa 20-35 [1945-60]
Small 16.6 x 9.1 cm volume woodblock printed livre d'artiste series. #113 of 150 copies printed. 27 orihon 折本 folding albums. Complete. Published by Nihon Aisho-kai 日本愛書会, known as Aoi Shobō アオイ書房 until the mid-1940s. Author and academic Helen Merritt translates the title as, “Leisure Time Leisure Books.” The subtitle, Ezo Futsubutsu Jō 蝦夷風物帖, refers to the traditional culture and scenery of people in the region of North East Japan, who occupied the area dating back to the 7th-10th century.
Signed by Maekawa Senpan (also Sempan) 前川千帆 (1888-1960), one of the most important of all the mid-century Sōsaku Hanga 創作版画 Creative Print Movement artists. Senpan, whose penname was Sugimura Kōtarō 杉村廣太郎, was an established wood block print artist as well as a manga artist.
Charming woodblocks in rich, warm tones that depict everyday life in Northern Japan, with a touch of the humor for which Senpan was known. Vol 23, for example, depicts winter pictorial scenes of Hokkaido, with explanatory text within the double-page woodcuts. Although the books do show individuals at rest, as the title suggests, it also depicts many of them hard at work, leading one to believe that it is the reader or visitor who is experiencing these locations at their leisure. Vol 6 shows the making of traditional wooden kokeshi こけし dolls from start to finish, Vol 4 illustrates families and individuals enjoying public baths in remote locations while Vol 9 has a variety of plants and flowers found throughout its pages, all with text.
Each of the 27 books is in its original printed fukuro 袋 dust wrapper that matches the orihon folding album cover. The covers are illustrated with colorful geometric woodcut designs and printed titles with the number of the volume in Japanese text. Each volume opens with a printed title page followed by a signature page with limitation; others also have an introduction page with date and/or a final page with the publisher name.
Included with the set are the three printed fukusa 袱紗 cloth wraparounds in which the set might be enclosed, dyed by the Living National Treasure and katazome 型染 artist, Inagaki Toshijiro 稲垣稔二郎 (1902–1963). Also included are 4 ancillary notes with Japanese printed text: a 18 x 26cm folded sheet entitled Kanpon Fukusa 閑本ふくさ, a 16.1 x 8.8cm sheet and two 12.9 x 18cm sheets (one of the two is dated 34/12/12 [Dec 12, 1959] in pencil). Scant foxing, otherwise a pristine set of these livre d'artiste, complete.
Price: $4,500.00