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KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI

Hokusai Manga. Volume 9

Toshiro Katano, Nagoya 1878, 15,5x22,7cm, cousu.

Rare second edition, translated as Croquis de Hokusaï, volume 9. 15 volumes were actually published covering Hokusaï's work. The first was published in 1814 and the last posthumously in 1878. The final volume is considered apocryphal by some art historians. It contains around 40 subjects, most on double-page spreads in black, gray and flesh. It's essential to add that we can't determine with certainty whether this is the first or a later print run, because on this subject, there was no difference for the Japanese, and the publisher reprinted volumes as needed, the notion of a first print run being irrelevant to the Japanese book. We do know, however, that the publisher produced a second edition of this book between 1828 and 1878. Later editions do not have the same publisher's name and often have a date, which is not the case for older editions.
Accordion-fold volume, bound by a seam. Gray diamond cover with title label and writing in red on a white background. A very good, fresh copy.
Hokusai manga deal with a wide range of subjects, from scenes of daily life to war scenes, typically Japanese legends, animals and flowers, and landscapes, animated or in name, notably Mount Fuji. It is generally considered that, after a period of intense production, Hokusai selected his sketches very carefully, and even redrew a number of them, arranging them in the order we know today. However, Michener maintains that the layout of the various sketches on a given plate was actually decided by the engravers and publishers, and not by Hokusai himself. It should be remembered that the Japanese printmaking technique is very close to the original drawing, since the ink drawing was affixed to a piece of wood that the engraver carved out, precisely following the lines of the drawing, itself destroyed in the process. This volume contains numerous animated landscapes and war scenes, 

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