Hokusai KATSUSHIKA

Fine autograph letter, dated and signed, addressed to his friend Pierre Louÿs; 7 pages in violet ink on two bifolia, with the original envelope preserved.

Folds from original mailing.

Soon to be on leave from the Moroccan Expeditionary Corps, Claude Farrère announces to his friend his imminent return to France following an Andalusian journey: "je pendrai au plus tardle train du 4 juin, à Algéciras ; lequel train, après escales à Grenade, Cordoue, Séville et Tolède, me déposera, le 11 au matin, à Toulon - Voilà !"

He mentions a book that struck him and evokes two women: "feuilletez, vous comprendrez l'in térêt que j'attache au cas, intérêt tout à...

First edition, one of 1,400 numbered copies, only issue.

Outstanding publisher’s cream silk Bradel binding signed by Engel at the foot of the spine, flat spine decorated with Japanese characters; upper boards in excellent condition, elaborately decorated with a reproduction of Shinman’s starlings against a setting sun from the Henri Cernuschi collection (also illustrated pl. 26, vol. 1); corners slightly rubbed; both volumes complete with their illustrated dust jackets, showing tears and some losses.

First edition, rare, which can be translated under the title Hokusai's Sketches, volume 1. 15 volumes were indeed published covering Hokusai's work. First volume was published in 1814 and the last posthumously in 1878. The final volume is considered apocryphal by some art historians. The volume contains approximately 30 subjects, most on double pages in black, grey and flesh tones. The preface was written by Hanshi Sanjin, who presents the master's visit to Nagoya. It is essential to add that one cannot determine whether this is the first printing or a later printing, because on this subject, there was no difference for the Japanese, and the publisher reprinted volumes as needed, the...