/Collection
  • Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815) Color woodblock print: hashira-e, 68.9 x 12.1 cm. DATE: 1783. Signed: Kiyonaga ga Publisher: Eijudō (Nishimuraya Yohachi) "Young musician dreams of being abducted by a ruffian. Long hours on duty have exhausted this young musician who sits sleeping with her shamisen and book placed on the ground in front of her. In her dream, she is being abducted by a ruffian who has stripped her of her clothing" [LIB-1474.2018: Important Japanese prints from the collection of Henry Steiner. Catalogue № 14. — NY: Sebastian Izzard LLC, 2018.]

    The Japanese Pillar Print. Hashira-e. Jacob Pins. Foreword by Roger Keyes. Robert G. Sawers Publishing, London, 1982 [LIB-1543.2018 in this collection] -> page 262 №703: A young woman dreaming of rape and robbery. 1783. Hirano.

    MFA: ACCESSION NUMBER 21.5546: Young Woman Music Teacher Dreaming of a Robbery [追剥の夢を見る三味線師匠]. Edo period, about 1783 (Tenmei 3). Artist Torii Kiyonaga (1752–1815), Publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudô). Harvard Museums Object Number 1916.586: Female Musician Dreaming of Robbery. Edo period, circa 1783. Torii Kiyonaga, Japanese (1752 - 1815) . Published by Nishimuraya Yohachi.  
  • Iron tsuba of otafuku-gata form decorated on the face with death and autumn motifs: autumnal grasses and flowers in yellow brass and shakudō, skull, limb bone and sternum inlaid in shakudō. On the reverse the plate is inlaid in red copper with a chrysanthemum and maple leaves floating in stylized water streams. "Plants floating atop water form common motifs, as occurs with chrysanthemums, maple leaves, and cherry blossoms, in particular." [Merrily Baird]. Such plants may be used as a family crest (mon), or may be just a reminder of a floating nature of life.   Momoyama period, late 15th century. Dimensions: 75.3 x 69.9 x 4.3 mm.
  • Tsuba of oval form decorated with clematis six-petal flowers, tendrils, and leaves in cast brass with details carved in kebori, inlaid on iron plate carved in low relief  (kebori and sukidashi-bori). Hitsu-ana plugged with shakudō. Copper sekigane.

    Heianjō (or Ōnin) school. Unsigned. Mid Muromachi period (1454-1513). Dimensions: 87.2 x 84.3 x 4.3 mm. Tsuba is illustrated and described in Gary D. Murtha's "Onin-Heianjo-Yoshiro" book on pages 38-39. Mid-Muromachi is the age attribution by Gary. “A picture book of Japanese sword guards. Victoria & Albert Museum“, published in 1927 presents us with a somewhat similar tsuba: "Floral ornament. Iron, with brass incrustation". V&A attributes the tsuba to Ōnin style, 16th century.
  • Thin six-lobed iron plate of brownish color is carved on each side with a groove that follows the rim and a concentric grooves around the center of the plate, also carved with six thin scroll lines (mokkō or handles, kan) that follow the shape of the rim. Mokume surface treatment. Hitsu-ana  possibly added at a later date, and kogai-hitsu-ana plugged with gold. Silver sekigane.

    Signed: Kunihide [國秀]. Higo school, 1st generation swordsmith.

    Mid Edo period, ca. 1800.

    Would be possibly attributed to Kamakura-bori school revival of the 19th century.

    References: Nihon Tō Kōza, Volume VI / Japanese Sword / Kodōgu Part 1, page 231: Enju Kunihide, a tōshō from Higo: "...forging of the jigane is excellent, and there are also pieces with mokume hada."

    Haynes Index Vol. 1, p. 741, H 03569.0: "Enju Kunihide in Higo province, died 1830, student of Suishinshi Masahide. Retainer of the Hosokawa Daimyō, etc."

    Additional Information from Markus Sesko:  This tsuba indeed is made by Enju Kunihide, who in his later years signed the HIDE [] character as HI [日] and DE [出], as here: Size: 77.4 x 74.9 x 2.7 mm Similar pieces are: 1. In this collection № TSU-0341: Kamakura-bori tsuba with mokkō motif. Muromachi period, 15th - 16th century. 2. Dr. Walter A. Compton Collection, 1992, Christie’s auction, Part II, pp. 14-15, №16: “A kamakurabori type tsubaMuromachi period, circa 1400. The thin, six-lobed iron plate is carved on each side with a wide groove that follows the shape of the rim, and with six scroll lines and a single thin circular groove. […] The hitsu-ana was added at a later date, circa 1500-1550.  Height 8.3 cm, width 8.6 cm, thickness 2.5 mm. The tsuba was initially intended  to be mounted on a tachi of the battle type in use from Nambokucho to early Muromachi period (1333-1400)”. Sold at $935. 3. And another one in Robert E. Haynes Catalog #9 on page 24-25 under №23: “Typical later Kamakura-bori  style work. This type of plate and carving show the uniform work produced by several schools in the Muromachi </em period. Some had brass inlay and others were just carved as this one is. The hitsu are  later. Ca. 1550. Ht. 8.8 cm, Th. 3.25 mm”. Sold for $175.      
  • Iron tsuba of quatrefoil form with design of bamboo stems and leaves in openwork (sukashi) decorated with carving (kebori) . Copper sekigane. Early Edo period, late 17th century (Kanbun / Enppo era). First generation Kanshiro of Nishigaki school in Higo Province died in the sixth year of Genroku, 1693, at the age of 81). Height: 74.4 mm; Width: 74.2 mm; Centre thickness: 4.9 mm. Rounded rim. The design was quite popular among the Higo masters.

    Kanshiro III, early 18th century (Sasano 1994 №267)

     

    Matashichi I, late 17th century (Sasano 1994 №270)

     

    Shigemitsu II, early 18th century (Sasano 1994 №280)

    The design of my tsuba closely resembles the one at the last example (Sasano 1994 №280), however, the form (mine is quatrefoil) and the execution (strength) are very different, which result in a very different spirit of my piece.  
  • Utagawa Kunisada (Japanese歌川 国貞; also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III (三代歌川豊国); 1786 – 12 January 1865).

    A young woman adjusting her hairpins in the light of a paper lantern. Series: Arigataki miyo no kage-e (Shadow Pictures of an Auspicious Age). There are five known prints, half-length portraits of beauties, in this series, designed by Kunisada in ca. 1844. Another print from the series in this collection: SVJP-0309.2020: A young woman reading a book in the light of a lamp.

    Signed: Kōchōrō Toyokuni ga (香蝶楼豊国画). Publisher: Maruya Kiyojiro.

    Size: Vertical Ōban (37.5 x 25.4 cm). Utagawa (歌川) SOLD
  • Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I [歌川豊国] (1769–1825). Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋 仙三郎] (fl. 1815 – 1869). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画]. Publisher's seal: Ibaya Sensaburō (Marks 08-067 | 127b). Date-aratame seal: Bunsei 3 (1820). Size: Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e), 224 x 254 mm. Ichikawa Ebijūrō I as Nuregami Chōgorō [濡髪の長五郎], Nakamura Daikichi as Hanaregoma Oseki [放駒のお関], and Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Hanaregoma Chōkichi [放駒長吉] in a kabuki play Futatsu Chôchô Kuruwa Nikki [双蝶々曲輪日記] (A Diary of Two Butterflies in the Pleasure Quarters (see: LIB-0879.2015 | Brandon, James R., Leiter, Samuel L.  Kabuki Plays on Stage: Brilliance and Bravado, 1697-1766 (Volume 1). — Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2002.) The play was performed at Kawarasakiza (Edo) in May of 1820. Actors: Ichikawa Ebijūrō I [市川鰕十郎] (Japanese, 1777 – 1827); other names: Ichikawa Ichizō I [市川市蔵], Ichinokawa Ichizō [市ノ川市蔵]. Nakamura Daikichi I [初代中村大吉](Japanese, 1773 – 1823); other names: Fujikawa Daikichi [藤川大吉]; poetry name Hajō [巴丈]; pen name Naruo Yatarō [藤川大吉]. Ichikawa Danjūrō VII 市川団十郎 (Japanese, 1791 – 1859); other names: Ichikawa Ebizō V, Ichikawa Hakuen II, Ichikawa Shinnosuke I.    
  • Owner's convolute binding of the period in quarter tan cloth, yellow marbled boards, no title page, no pagination. Contents: (1) Venetian Album –12 lithographs by Émile-Aubert Lessore (French, 1805 – 1876) after William Wyld (British, 1806 – 1889). — Venice: Charles Hopfner, [1834]. Printed at Premiata Litografia Veneta under the direction of  Ferdinand Wolfgang Flachenecker (German, 1782 – 1847). Inscription: Premiata Litografia Veneta, dirigée par C. Flachenecker.
    1. L'Église de St. Marc
    2. La place St. Marc
    3. Le palais Ducal
    4. Le Môle
    5. L'Arsenal
    6. La Riva dei Schiavoni
    7. Le Grand Canal, (1re vue)
    8. Le Grand Canal (2me vue)
    9. Le Grand Canal (3me vue)
    10. Le Grand Canal (4me vue)
    11. Le Grand Canal (5me vue)
    12. Le Grand Canal (6me vue)
    (2) Veduta della casa di Loreto – 5 etchings by Filippo Jaffei, – Loreto: Jaffei, 1828.
    1. Title: Spiegazione / delli quattro prospetti dei bassi rilievi in marmo che circondano le mura della S. Casa di Loreto / qui annessi in puntata, oltre l'altro prospetto del palazzo pontificio / facciata del tempio, campanile, e cuppola etc.
    2. Prospetto della Basilica, e Piazza Lauretana, ed annesso Palazzo Apostolico / V. Jaffei incise.
    3. Settentrione. Prospetto laterale de Bassirilievi in Marmo, che circondano le Mura di S. Casa di Loreto. Jaffei incise Loreto.
    4. Oriente. Prospetto de Bassirilievi in Marmo, che circ=ondano le Mura di S. Casa.  Jaffei incise Loreto l'Anno 1828.
    5. Mezzo Giorno. Prospetto laterale de Bassirilievi in Marmo, che circondano le Mura di S. Casa di Loreto. Jaffei dis. ed inc. in Loreto.
    6. Occidente. Prospetto de Bassirilievi in Marmo, che circ=ondano le Mura di S. Casa. Jaffei dis. ed inc. in Loreto l'Anno 1828.
    (3) Line engraving signed F. Ferrat (...). (4) View of Cloaca Maxima in Rome etched by Tommaso Cuccioni (Italian, 1790 – 1864), negoziante. Possibly from the album Num. cento vedute di Roma e sue vicinanze. Presso Tommaso Cuccioni, negoziante di stampe in Roma, Via della Croce n. 25. Inscription: Cloaca Maxima. Si vende in Roma da Tommaso Cuccioni Neg.e di Stampe Via della Croce № 25.
  • Title in black and red: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH | OF | BOOKBINDING | BY | S. T. PRIDEAUX | WITH A CHAPTER ON EARLY STAMPED BINDINGS | BY E. GORDON DUFF. | {Publisher’s device} | LONDON: LAWRENCE & BULLEN | 16 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN | 1893 || Pagination: [i, ii] – h.t. / blank, [2] – blank / frontis. w/guard, [iii, iv] – t.p. / colophon, [v], vi – preface, [vii, viii] – contents / blank, [1] 2-303 [304 blank]. Collation: 8vo; [A]4 B-U8. Binding: Grey cloth with gilt-stamped lettering and publisher’s device to front cover, gilt lettering to spine, blue floral ornamental endpapers, free margin untrimmed; printed on laid paper.
  • Engraved title:

    Upper frame: ALMANACH | ICONOLOGIQUE, | OU | DES ARTS | pour l'année | 1764. | Orné de Figures | avec leurs explications | par | M. GRAVELOT. | avec Priv. du Roy | A PARIS

    Lower frame: Chez Lattré Graveur rue S. Jacq. | à la Ville de Bordeaux.

    Under the frame: H. Gravelot del. — L. Legrand sc.

    28 leaves, of them: engraved t.p., engraved frontis., and 12 plates, text engraved. Pages numbered 1-12, and I-XII (incorrectly marked XVI), other unpaginated, unbound tissue guards. Size: 10.6 x 7.2 cm, full polished crimson calf w/veins, triple-ruled in gilt with florets in corners, flat spine, double-ruled in gilt, all edges gilt. Florets in compartments, black title label with gilt lettering “ALM | ICON ||”, peacock marbled endpapers, blue silk ribbon. Approbation dated 15 November 1763, as some plates.

    Catalogue raisonné: Cohen, De Ricci 454.

  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). An untrimmed fan print titled Fuji Tsukuba aiaigasa, shows the actors Ichikawa Ebizo V [市川海老蔵] and the onnagata actor Iwai Shijaku I [岩井紫若] sharing an umbrella against the wind. Tsukuba, about 50 kilometres from Edo, was an area where both Fuji and Mount Tsukuba could be viewed together. Mount Fuji being the female and Mount Tsukuba the male. An aizuri-e background (common to all the designs in this set). A play on images and words. Actors: Ichikawa Danjūrō VII [市川団十郎] (Japanese, 1791 – 1859); other names: Ichikawa Ebizō V [市川海老蔵], Ichikawa Hakuen II, Ichikawa Shinnosuke I. Iwai Matsunosuke I [岩井松之助] (Japanese, 1804 – 1845); other names: Iwai Hanshirō VII, Iwai Shijaku I [岩井紫若], Iwai Komurasaki I. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburo [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1845 – 1847). The publisher’s seal is on the umbrella. Date: circa 1832. Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga in a red double-gourd cartouche. From the series of fan prints:

    SVJP-0341.2021

    Two more prints from the series 'Fuji and Tsukuba sharing an umbrella' (Fuji Tsukuba aiaigasa), not in this Collection:
    Kabuki actors Onoe Kikugorō III and Iwai Kumesaburo II. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project.
    Kabuki actors Bandō Minosuke II and Iwai Shijaku I. Year: c. 1832; Publisher: No seal; Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga From Kunisada Project.
     
  • Title: This Solemn | Mockery | THE ART OF LITERARY FORGERY | John Whitehead, A.L.A. | Arlington Books {device} London Pagination: [2] – h.t. / blank, [2] – t.p. / imprint, [2] –contents / acknowledgement, 1-177 [178 blank]; 4 leaves of plates (total 96 leaves). Binding: 22.2 x 14.2 cm; hardcover, aubergine cloth, silver lettering to spine, pictorial dust jacket. ISBN-10: 0851402127
  • Cover:  (black and red in red frame) PARIS POLICE | par | Ch. Virmaitre | PARIS | E. DENTU, ÉDITEUR | LIBRAIRE DE LA SOCIÉTÉ DES GENTES DE LETTRES | Palais-Royal, 15-17-19, Galerie d’Orléans | 1886 || Title page: CH. VIRMAITRE | PARIS–POLICE | {publisher’s device} | PARIS | E. DENTU, ÉDITEUR | LIBRAIRE DE LA SOCIÉTÉ DES GENTES DE LETTRES | PALAIS-ROYAL, 15-17-19, GALERIE D’ORLEANS | 1886 | Tous droits réservés. || Pagination : 3 blank leaves, original pictorial wrapper, [4], [1] 2-359 [360 blank], original back wrapper with publisher's advertisement, 3 blank leaves. Collation: 12mo; π2, 1-1912 206. Binding: owner's hardcover, quarter burgundy percaline, marbled boards, brown title label with gilt lettering, gilt double tail ruler, year, and fleuron to spine; original paper wrappers preserved.
  • 26 x 18 cm, black cloth, white lettering to cover and spine, pictorial DJ, pp. [1-4] 5-207 [208 colophon], 233 b/w illustrations; essay by Wilhelm M. Busch.
  • Title: THE | FABLES OF ÆSOP, | AND OTHERS, | WITH DESIGNS ON WOOD, | BY | THOMAS BEWICK. | “The wisest of the Ancients delivered their Conceptions of the Deity, and their Lessons of Morality, in Fables and Parables.” | {vignette} | NEWCASTLE: | PRINTED BY E. WALKER, FOR T. BEWICK AND SON. | SOLD BY THEM, LONGMAN AND CO. LONDON, AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. | 1818. || Pagination: [2] – blank / receipt with thumbprint, [i, ii] – t.p. / blank, [iii] iv-xvi – introduction with “Auld Clouty” vignette, [xvii] xviii-xxiv – table of contents, [1] 2-376; 188 wood-engraved head-pieces to the fables and 136 other vignettes, tail-pieces, etc. Collation: demy 8vo( octavo in fours); π1 (receipt), a-c4, B-3B4; A and 2P2 unsigned. Binding: Original blue boards, rebacked, original spine laid down, with original paper spine label ("Demy Paper/Price 15 s."); wove paper, top edge trimmed, the others are not; round book-plate to front paste-down “TWM, The Whitehead Library”; in a clamshell case, also book-plated inside. Size: case: 24.2 x 16.2 cm; boards: 22.8 x 14.2 cm; 22 x 14 cm. Note from seller: First copy in boards to ever appear at auction. Edition: First edition (one of 1,000 copies printed in demy 8vo), with Bewick's thumbprint and signature in facsimile, “Demy” and “15” in manuscript on receipt (page facing title-page), variant A (with "Auld Clouty" wood-engraving at bottom of p. XVI, and with the last line in p. 248 reading "road of honour and honesty"). "According to Roscoe, demy 8vo copies were apparently the first to be issued". There is 1 copy at the University Library, Cambridge and 1 at Liverpool public libraries. Catalogue raisonné: Roscoe: pp. 155-165, 45c for Variant A [see LIB-2714.2021]; Hugo (I vol.): p. 261; Ray: p. 35; Steedman: №№ 99-104, pp. 34-35 (№ 103 for Variant A).
  • Vol. 1. Title: SOUVENIRS | D'UN | PRÉFET DE POLICE | PAR | L. ANDRIEUX | TOME PREMIER | {publisher’s device} | PARIS | JULES ROUFF ET Cie, ÉDITEURS | 14, CLOITRE SAINT-HONORÉ, 14 | 1885 || Pagination : [1-7] 8-356. Collation: 18mo; 1-1718 1916. Vol. 2. Title: Similar but TOME DEUXIÈME. Pagination : [1-5] 6-304. Collation: 18mo; 1-1518 176. Binding: Both volumes are uniformly bound in quarter black morocco over marbled boards, raised bands, gilt lettering, peacock endpapers, all edges marbled; extensive foxing.
  • Title page: ГИЛЬГАМЕШЪ | ВАВИЛОНСКIЙ ЭПОСЪ | ПЕРЕВОДЪ | Н. ГУМИЛЕВА | ВВЕДЕНИЕ В. ШИЛЕЙКО | Изданiе З. И. Гржебина | С.-ПЕТЕРБУРГЪ — 1919. Pagination: [1-4] 5-78 [2]; head and tail pieces (William Hayes Ward, The seal cylinders of Western Asia, Washington, 1910). Binding: Publisher’s wrappers, lettering, vignette. Contributors: Гумилёв, Николай Степанович (Russian, 1886 – 1921) – translator from the French. Шилейко, Владимир Казимирович (Russian, 1891 – 1930) – editor.
  • Title: REFLECTIONS | ON THE | REVOLUTION IN FRANCE, | AND ON THE | PROCEEDINGS IN CERTAIN SOCIETIES | IN LONDON | RELATIVE TO THAT EVENT. | IN A | LETTER | INTENDED TO HAVE BEEN SENT TO A GENTLEMAN | IN PARIS. | BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE | EDMUND BURKE. | — | {in lozenges} THE THIRD EDITION. | —| LONDON: | PRINTED FOR J. DODSLEY, IN PALL-MALL. | M.DCC.XC. || Pagination: [i-iii] iv, [1] 2-364, total 368 pages. Collation: 8vo; π2 B-Z8 Aa6 (plus one blank flyleaf in the front and one in the back), total 184 leaves. Binding: 23 x 14.5 cm, publisher’s paper-backed binding in blue boards with handwritten title to spine (illegible), laid paper, margins untrimmed. Housed in a modern brown cloth clamshell box with brown gilt-lettered label. Note: The second edition same year has a total of 360 pages (iv, 356); see LIB-2590.2021. Inscription to title page: Philip [ON THE] Williams Penpont – that is probably of Philip Williams Esq., of Penpont, Breconshire, Wales. (c. 1742 – 1794).