Jean de LA FONTAINE
Fables choisies (ou) Choix de fables de La Fontaine illustrées par un groupe des meilleurs artistes de Tokio, sous la direction de P. Barboutau
Imprimerie de Tsoukidji-Tokio • [ Tôkyô Tsukiji kappan seizôsho] • pour E. Flammarion|Tokyo 1894|19.50 x 24.50 cm|2 tomes reliés en 1 volume
LA FONTAINE Jean de Fables choisies (ou) Choix de fables de La Fontaine illustrées par un groupe des meilleurs artistes de Tokio, sous la direction de P. Barboutau
First edition of this renowned work with 28 double-page hors-texte prints in colors by Kajita Hanko, Kano Tomonobu, Okakura Shusui, Kawanabe Kyosui and Eda Mahiko, as well as numerous black and white vignettes to text. One of 350 copies on Hô-scho paper, this not numbered.
Contemporary marocco-effect shagreen, spine decorated with gilt bamboo frames, lanterns, a butterfly and crane, upper cover with large, leather plaque ruled in colors and heightened in gold showing a pheasant within a mass of vegetation, top edge gilt. All pages mounted on guards.
3cm crack to head of upper joint, a little rubbing. A few marginal tears without lack, as general with this type of Japanese paper, which is very delicate and printed only on the recto.
"Printed on hôsho paper, a type of kôzo, this curious edition in two volumes of selected Fables from La Fontaine belongs to a genre of "books on crepe paper" (chirimen-bon) published in Tokyo between 1885 and the beginning of the 20th century, for the attention of a local Western clientele, but also and above all for export. It was in collaboration with Europeans and Americans that several Japanese publishers produced these books illustrated with woodcuts, which appeared in a dozen Western languages, especially English, German, and French. Of these works, several were books of Japanese folk tales. Hôsho paper was the best for color printing. The "crepe paper" process (chirimen-gami) was used in printing from the beginning of the 19th century on. The binding technique used for the covers here is known as yamato-toji . This is derived from the Chinese method of binding known as fukuro-toji, but differs from it in the two knots that appear on the cover" (BnF, Oriental Manuscripts, Smith-Lesouëf Japanese 256)
First edition of this renowned work with 28 double-page hors-texte prints in colors by Kajita Hanko, Kano Tomonobu, Okakura Shusui, Kawanabe Kyosui and Eda Mahiko, as well as numerous black and white vignettes to text. One of 350 copies on Hô-scho paper, this not numbered.
Contemporary marocco-effect shagreen, spine decorated with gilt bamboo frames, lanterns, a butterfly and crane, upper cover with large, leather plaque ruled in colors and heightened in gold showing a pheasant within a mass of vegetation, top edge gilt. All pages mounted on guards.
3cm crack to head of upper joint, a little rubbing. A few marginal tears without lack, as general with this type of Japanese paper, which is very delicate and printed only on the recto.
"Printed on hôsho paper, a type of kôzo, this curious edition in two volumes of selected Fables from La Fontaine belongs to a genre of "books on crepe paper" (chirimen-bon) published in Tokyo between 1885 and the beginning of the 20th century, for the attention of a local Western clientele, but also and above all for export. It was in collaboration with Europeans and Americans that several Japanese publishers produced these books illustrated with woodcuts, which appeared in a dozen Western languages, especially English, German, and French. Of these works, several were books of Japanese folk tales. Hôsho paper was the best for color printing. The "crepe paper" process (chirimen-gami) was used in printing from the beginning of the 19th century on. The binding technique used for the covers here is known as yamato-toji . This is derived from the Chinese method of binding known as fukuro-toji, but differs from it in the two knots that appear on the cover" (BnF, Oriental Manuscripts, Smith-Lesouëf Japanese 256)
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