Modern Illustrated Books

French translation by Adolphe Van Bever and illustrated with 40 original wood engravings by Louis Jou, one of the numbered copies on Rives vellum.
Half black morocco binding, spine with two thick raised bands set with gilt fillets, imitation white wood paper boards, small foxing to boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, top edge gilt, original wrappers preserved, elegant contemporary binding signed by Creuzevault.
Handsome copy in a beautiful Art Deco binding by Creuzevault.

Signed limited edition, one of 750 copies signed by the artist.

Original publisher's cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt, front cover with elaborate design in gilt.

Colour frontispiece and colour plates mounted on cream paper, captioned tissue-guards, by Edmund Dulac. Cloth soiled, some foxing to margins. With a loose leaflet advertising the exhibition of the original drawings at Leicester galleries in 1909.

An album containing 14 gouaches on silk, including 12 erotic paintings. The first painting on each side of the folding shows a bird and on the other side maple leaves, thus masking on each of the first pages the erotic aspect of the collection. Shunga is the generic Japanese term that designates erotic art, it literally means Spring Image, spring being a euphemism and figure of style expressing sexuality. The term Shunga having been reserved for a long time for prints, collections or albums have often been designated by the appellation Pillow Books, or notes for the pillow, etc. (Utamaro: The Song of the Pillow, 1788).
Japanese accordion album covered with damask silk with flowers and birds in pale gold. Silk band on the first cover serving as a label but mute. Each painting 12.8x16cm is mounted on cardboard. The cardboard folding sections are covered with cream paper speckled with gold. Very fine condition, edges rubbed, with small lacks to fabric.
The paintings respect the canons of Japanese erotic representation: oversized genitals, body hair, women with white skin and men of flesh color. No decorative element comes to distract the eye from the sexual act (only one painting contains a mirror), the bodies being most of the time clothed in rich kimonos. These collections were still in the modern era offered to newlyweds, particularly to women. The whole is of fine workmanship, the 2 introductory paintings, the bird and the maple leaves are particularly successful.
This type of representation was forbidden in Japan and therefore contains no signature, it is however evident that there existed painters whose profession and specialty this was and whom one went to see for private commissions; it is also not forbidden to think that the painter made several on his own initiative and that he offered them for sale, as was done with collections of colored photographs at the end of the 19th century.
Precious and rare ensemble in superb condition.

First edition, one of 25 numbered copies on Japan, deluxe copies ("tirage de tête").
Beautiful copy wide-margined.
Illustrations by Charles Shoup.