• Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Ōju Toyokuni ga [応需豊国画], in a toshidama cartouche. Double nanushi censor seals Mera & Murata (1846-50). Publisher: Kojimaya Jūbei [小嶋屋重兵衛] (Japanese, fl. c. 1797 – 1869). Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII [市川団十郎] (Ichikawa Ebizō VI, Ichikawa Shinnosuke II, Japanese, 1823 – 1854) watches the sunrise over Mount Fuji. The complete set of series Moon, Sun, Stars [月日星] (tsuki-hi-hoshi/boshi),  three sources of light (sankō) [三光]:
  • Iron tsuba of mokko form (quatrefoil) decorated with a pair of cherry blossoms (sakura) in small openwork (ko-sukashi) and inlaid in brass (suemon-zōgan) with designs of waves, distant pines, chrysanthemum flowers in halves, tendrils and leaves, lightning or thunder symbol (inazuma), flying geese and family chrests (mon): two interlocked rings (wachigai) on the face, and three encircled stripes (maru-no-uchi-ni-mitsuhikiryo) - kamon of the Kikkawa clan  - on the reverse. Hitsu-ana outlined with inlay of brass wire. Surface treated with lacquer. Copper sekigane. Though some consider this type of tsuba to resemble Heianjo school, “...the brass trim around the hitsu-ana is a characteristics of Ōnin work” [Japanese sword guards. Onin – Heianjo – Yoshiro. Gary D. Murtha. GDM Publications, 2016; p. 27.]. The Ōnin origin is reinforced by scattered ten-zōgan elements here and there through the plate. It is possible that the tsuba was initially of round form and later trimmed to mokko shape. Mid Muromachi period; 15th century. Dimensions: Height: 87.2 mm; Width: 87.9 mm; Thickness at seppa-dai: 3.6 mm.
  • Cover and title page: Освободительная библiотека. | П. А. КРОПОТКИНЪ. | Парижская коммуна | В. СИМКОВИЧЪ | Послѣдние годы борьбы Россiи | съ самодержавiемъ | {publisher’s device} | ИЗДАНIЕ В. Д. КАРЧАГИНА. | Москва—1906. || Publisher’s lettered wrappers, pagination: [1-5] 6-83 [84], collation: 8vo, [1]8 2-58 62; size: 10.5 x 14 cm. Contents: П. А. Кропоткин. Парижская коммуна / Пер. Т. Брона — pp. 3-31; В. Симкович. Последнии годы борьбы России с самодержавием / Пер. Л. П. Данилова — pp. 33- 83. Kropotkin, Pyotr Alexeyevich [Кропоткин, Пётр Алексеевич] (Russian, 1842 – 1921) — author of the text. Simkhovitch, Vladimir Gregorievitch [Симкович, В.] (Russian-American, 1874 – 1959) — author of the text. Кушнерёв, Иван Николаевич (Russian, 1827 – 1896) — printer.  
  • Photographic portrait of writer Sergei Dovlatov, head and shoulder, turned to the left, wearing glasses. Pencil-signed on the mat: 4/45 • ©Mikhail Lemkhin; on the back of the print: Copyright statement stamp; ink stamp ©MIKHAIL LEMKHIN; ink stamp: PHOTO BY MIKHAIL LEMKHIN | 1811 38TH AVENUE | SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122 | (415) 664-7677; pencil inscription on the back of the mat: (top) СЕРГЕЙ ДОВЛАТОВ | SERGEI DOVLATOV. Size: mat: 43.2 x 35.5 cm; window: 23.5 x 18.5 cm; print: 25.2 x 20.2 cm. Limited edition of 45, of which this is № 4, signed and stamped by the artist. Sitter: Sergei Dovlatov [Сергей Донатович Довлатов] (Russian, 1941 – 1990)
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞], a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代 歌川 豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a red toshidama cartouche Block carver: Yokokawa Takejirō [横川竹二郎] (Japanese, fl. 1845 – 1863), seal: 彫竹 – hori Take. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. c. 1845 – 1847). Media: Untrimmed fan print (uchiwa-e), 230 x 295 mm. Combined date seal and kiwame censor seal: Ansei 6 (1859). Title: Princess Sotoori [衣通姫] (Sotoori-hime) – Sotoori-hime was a concubine of Emperor Ingyo (reigned AD 412-53), and one of the Three Gods of Japanese Poetry [和歌三神] (Waka sanjin). Series: Chronicles of Elegant Women [風雅女史傳] (Fūga joshiden). The sign on the torii (Shinto shrine gates) reads: Mountain king shrine [山王宮] – it is the Sannō Shrine at the Nagata Riding Grounds in Edo. A print with these gates is at MFA (Boston) # 21.9853. Other prints from the same series in this collection: SVJP-0343.2021 — Tamagiku: SVJP-0400.2023 — Saiko: Note: Special thanks to Horst Graebner, who helped decipher and understand the meaning.  
  • Engraved title page: ILLUSTRATION | OF | TIME. | GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. | "THERE IS A TIME FOR ALL THINGS". | TEMPUS EDAX RERUM. | LONDON | Published May 1st 1827 by the Artist - 22 Myddelton Terrace Pentonville. - Sold by Js. Robins & Co. Ivy Lane Paternoster Row.

    Oblong folio, 33.5 x 44 cm. Engraved vignette title page and six not-coloured engraved plates with multiple images showing thirty-five humorous scenes.

    First edition, first issue. Uncoloured. Pristine condition.

    Half-leather bound in marbled cardboard and red morocco and gild lettering and arabesque. Frontispiece and 6 plates with protective tissues.

    Content:

    1. Time-Called & Time-Come (five sketches)

    2. Behind Time (seven sketches)

    3. Time Thrown Away (six sketches)

    4. Hard Times [&] Term Time (five sketches)

    5. Time Badly Employed (five sketches)

    6. Christmas Time (seven sketches)

    British Museum № 1978,U.3026.1. BM description: "Frontispiece, the title on a background of symmetrical but dilapidated and grass-grown masonry. On the summit stands a little laughing gnome, with a wide hat and a body formed of an hour-glass; Inset is an oval bordered by a serpent with its tail in its mouth (emblem of eternity), in which is an aged and all-devouring Time (bald except for a forelock), seated behind a table whose surface is the base of the design. He puts to his mouth a fork on which is speared an elephant with a castle on its back containing tiny figures with spears. In his r. hand is a spoon containing a country church. His table is covered with dishes, and at his r. hand is a sickle. The central and biggest dish is heaped with a jumble of tiny objects: crown, table, chair, wheelbarrow, picture; round the room sit little figures: a soldier, parson, lady and child, &c. The ten other dishes contain: an antique glass coach with horses and footmen; an overladen camel beside a palm-tree; ruins of a castle; a farmhouse; a shepherd and sheep; a dismantled cannon and balls, cattle, a man-of-war in full sail; a ruinous Gothic cathedral; a clump of trees (the last two are dominated by a large decanter). Below Time are two (Egyptian) pyramids. Above: 'There Is A Time For All Things'; below: 'Tempus Edax Rerum'. 1 May 1827. Etching."
    Bibliography:
    • Reid, G W, A descriptive catalogue of the works of George Cruikshank, London, 1871.
    • Stephens, Frederic George; George, Mary Dorothy, Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, 11 vols, London, BMP, 1870.
    • Cohn, A M, George Cruikshank, catalogue raisonné, London, 1924.
  • Title: П. В. БЕЗОБРАЗОВ | Я. Н. ЛЮБАРСКИЙ | ВИЗАНТИЙСКИЙ ПИСАТЕЛЬ | И ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ДЕЯТЕЛЬ | МИХАИЛ ПСЕЛЛ | МИХАИЛ ПСЕЛЛ: | ЛИЧНОСТЬ И ТВОРЧЕСТВО | Научное издание | Издательство | «АЛЕТЕЙЯ» | Санкт-Петербург | 2001 || Pagination: [1-5] 6-542 [2]. Binding: 21.5 x 15 cm; hardcover, crimson buckram, gilt lettering in the border, gilt serial device on black, pictorial endpapers. Print run: 1,300 copies. ISBN: 5-89329-401-7 Безобразов, Павел Владимирович (Russian, 1859 – 1918). Любарский, Яков Николаевич (Russian, 1929 – 2003).
  • Iron tsuba of round form decorated with design of keys to the storehouse of the gods in openwork (sukashi). Rounded rim. Copper sekigane.

    Unsigned. Early Edo period, 17th century.

    Size: 71.0 x 70.9 x 6.0 mm.

    Merrily Baird, Symbols..: The Key to the Storehouse of the Gods, one of the Myriad Treasures.