Seiyô SOKA ZUFU 西洋草花図譜
1917. Item #91083
[EHON] Tanigami Kônan 谷上廣南, artist. Seiyô SOKA ZUFU 西洋草花図譜. Kyoto: Unsôdô 芸艸堂, Taishô 6 [1917]. 5 volumes. Orihon folding albums, each 27.8 x 18.8 cm, in green boards with printed paper title labels. There are two "Spring" volumes, bound separately, two "Summer" volumes, then
"Fall" & "Winter" are bound together with a cover uniform with the
other four and an appropriate publisher's title slip. They are in
a custom fitted chitsu clasped case with a supplied title label.
Each season has a table of contents listing the prints [in English,
kana and kanji, where appropriate]. This complete set consists of
125 (each image size 22.4 x 33.1cm) double page prints.
There is no mention of this book in any of the standard
Western references (a fact which illustrates again the need for an
Unsôdô bibliography!) These "Seiyô", i.e. "Western", flowers are
depicted in a realistic fashion and printed in lovely rich colors
with a great deal of skill. No bald descriptive text intrudes upon the print itself. The captions are banished to the margin. The impressions and condition are very good, and the colors lovely. This set used to be available in the
marketplace in Japan but when I bought this, I realized we had not
handled a nice complete copy like this in over a decade!
Price: $4,250.00