• Iron tsuba of oval form pierced with design of slanting rays of light (shakoh), a Christian motif (Jesuit’s IHS symbol), and a pair of tassels in positive silhouette (ji-sukashi). Details on tassels carved in low relief. Traditional description of this kind of design is called “tokei”, or “clock gear”. Rounded rim.

    Unsigned.

    Edo period, 17th or 18th century. Possibly - Owari school.

    Size: 76.0 x 73.0 x 6.2 mm.
  • Iron tsuba of round form decorated with chrysanthemums, pine cones and needles, pampas grass, vines, cherry blossoms, and wild geese in brass inlay (suemon-zōgan) and pierced with designs of water clover (denjiso) and half bellflower (or karahana) to the left and to the right of nakago-ana as well as double bars above and below nakago-ana (possibly with the meaning of number 2 or ordinal 2nd). Most probably the sukashi elements here are the family crests (mon). Unsigned. Ōnin school. Muromachi period; 15th or 16th century. Height: 82.1 mm; Width: 80.9 mm; Thickness at seppa-dai: 2.4 mm NBTHK # 2003827: Tokubetsu Hozon Tosogu Kanteisho (特別保存刀装具鑑定書) - "Extraordinarily Worthy of Preservation".
  • Softcover, 21 x 14.8 cm, print on demand edition, pp.: 1-88 [2], total 90 pages, pp. 1, 2, 88, and 89 blanks, p. 90 colophon. Font cover: Markus Sesko | — | Handbook | {vignette} | of Sword Fittings related Terms | — || Title-page: Handbook | of Sword Fittings | related Terms | © 2011 Markus Sesko | Herstellung und Verlag: | Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt | ISBN 978-308423-6422-6 || On the back cover: Blurb, publisher’s device in blue and black, barcode, and web address. Lettering to spine. Printed in the USA.
  • Artist: Mikhail Larionov (June 3, 1881 – May 10, 1964) ). Russian/French. Lithographic illustration "Woman in a hat" for Aleksei Kruchenykh book "Lipstick", Moscow, Kuzmin and Dolinsky Publishers, 1913, 480 copies printed. Size: 11,3 х 8,2 cm. Михаил Ларионов (3 июня 1881 – 10 мая 1964). Россия/Франция. Литографическая иллюстрация "Женщина в шляпе" к книге Алексея Крученых "Помада"; М.: Изд. Г.Л. Кузьмина и С.Д. Долинского, 1913, отпечатана в 480 экз. Формат: 11,3 х 8,2 см.
  • Christie's Auction Catalog; Sale WALTER-15785; New York, September 26-27, 2017; Publisher's pictorial wrappers, front cover: THE COLLECTION OF | PAUL F. WALTER | NEW YORK 26–27 SEPTEMBER 2917 | {profile chest portrait of Paul F. Walter} | CHRISTIE'S || 26.8 x 21.2 x 3 cm; 662 lots, illustrations in colour and b/w, pictorial dust jacket; pp: [2] 3-462.

    Paul F. Walter (American, 1935 – 2017) – "Collector. Following studies in history and history of art Oberlin College, Ohio, and Columbia University, he began to collect in the1960s, starting with prints by Whistler and moving on to the Aesthetic Movement and the Arts & Crafts in Britain, as well as the arts of the Indian subcontinent and modern American painting. He was Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art from 1992-2006, and a benefactor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, the Morgan Library and Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art."

  • Shingen school (or style) tsuba of round form with an iron core of spoked-wheel shape, with its centre covered with a copper plate decorated with star-shaped punch marks. From this copper plate outward, the body is formed by brass and copper wire (flat and twisted) in a weave pattern. Both hitsu-ana are outlined in brass with a raised rim. Copper sekigane. Unsigned. Edo period, 18th century. SOLD   Height: 98.0 mm, Width: 97.4 mm, Thickness at seppa-dai: 6.0 mm. Weight: 290 g. NBTHK certificate №436696: 'Hozon' attestation. Citing "JAPANESE SWORD-MOUNTS IN THE COLLECTIONS OF FIELD MUSEUM" by Helen C. Gunsaulus, Assistant Curator of Japanese Ethnology. 61 plates. Berthold Laufer, Curator of Anthropology. Field Museum of Natural History, Publication 216, Anthropological Series, Volume XVI; Chicago, 1923; p.45: "An unusual group of tsuba popular in the late sixteenth century and afterwards is made up of those guards known as Shingen tsuba, a name which was derived from a sixteenth-century warrior, Takeda Shingen (Takeda Harunobu, 1521-73), who is said to have preferred this style of guard, as it combined strength and lightness. Under the category of "Shingen", four different types abd generally listed, though a fifth appears in the drawings in the Boston Catalogue of Okabe Kakuya "Japanese Sword Guards" (p. 21). It is square, that form which is said to have been used in Ashikaga days for scaling walls, the sword having been set up as a step. [...] The following descriptions include, however, the Shingen tsuba usually met with.
    1. So-called Mukade ("centipede") tsuba are made of iron in which a centepede is inlaid in brass or copper wire. Mukade tsuba of Myōchin and Umetada warkmanship have been found with the inscription, "Made to the taste of Takeda Shingen".
    2. There are those of solid iron, with need centers of brass, to the edges of which is affixed a weaving of brass and copper wires which is bound to the foundation disk by a rim, usually decorated simply.
    3. Another type is of solid iron, bored at intervals and laced with braided or twisted wires of copper and brass.
    4. The fourth type is a chrysanthemoid form, chiselled in open work and laced or woven tightly with copper and brass wire."
    I believe that my tsuba [№ TSU-0338] belongs to the fourth type. However, this particular specimen does not conform with the description of Shingen tsuba as combining strength and lightness. Its weight is 290 g, which tells us that most probably it had purely decorative function (as most tsuba in Edo period). A somewhat similar design can be found at wikimedia. A look-a-like tsuba is illustrated at Compton Collection, Part II, p.p. 26-27, №54. It is dated ca. 1700. It was in a box with Sato Kanzan inscription, and had NBTHK certificate attesttion of 'Tokubetsu Kicho'. Price realized: $5,280.

    Compton Collection, Part II, p.p. 26-27, №54.

  • Hardcover, 19.8 x 14 cm, tan paper over cardboard with black and red lettering and design elements to front, black lettering to back and spine, pp.: fep, [1-8] (publ. device/blank, t.p./imprint, foreword, f.t./blank), [9] intro, 10-279 [280] contents, fep; blue crayon to fep recto Ф. Аншуков, ink mark to t.p. К. Collated 8vo: 1-178, 184, total 140 leaves. Title-page: АНДРЕЙ БЕЛЫЙ | РИТМ | КАК ДИАЛЕКТИКА | И | «МЕДНЫЙ ВСАДНИК» | ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ | ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО | «ФЕДЕРАЦИЯ» | МОСКВА – 1929 || Contributors: Андрей Белый [Andrei Bely, Борис Николаевич Бугаев] (Russian, 1880 – 1934) – author.
  • Two ymagane tsuba (daisho) with chiseled diaper pattern of waves. The larger tsuba (dai) is of mokkō form with a wide (4.6 mm) polished rim (fukurin?). Water spray is realized in copper ten-zōgan. Size: 75.0 x 71.6  x 3.2 (center), 4.0 (rim) mm. Copper sekigane. The smaller tsuba (sho) is of oval form, without a rim. No inlay. Size: 53.2 x 45.5 x 4.1 mm. Ko-kinko school. Muromachi period. In Kokusai Tosogu Kai; 5th International Convention & Exhibition, 2009 on page 51 under № 5-U8 there is a piece from George Gaucys collection, described as follows: Unsigned Tachi-Kanagushi tsuba, Yamagane base. Nami (wave) motif. Circa: Muromachi period (15th century). 6.88 x 6.81 x 0.45 (rim), 0.36 (center). The classic wave form is typically seen in Muromachi period tosogu. The patina is rich and rustic, which presents history and warmth. This tsuba may be interpreted as either tachi-kanagushi or ko-kinko work. Early tachi tsuba were symmetrical in design and also not very sophisticated, Design elements filled in up to seppadai as the waves do in this tsuba. There is a simple fikurin of the same metal and it is flat to the plate. On the ko-kinko side, the crests of the waves show more complexity than tachi works and less symmetry. A very intriguing tsuba from late Muromachi period."

    Kokusai Tosogu Kai 5th, 2009, p. 51, № 5-U8: ko-kinko or tachi-kanagushi tsuba.

  • Title page: АЛЕССАНДРО МАНЦОНИ | ОБРУЧЕННЫЕ | ПОВЕСТЬ ИЗ ИСТОРИИ | МИЛАНА XVII ВЕКА | ПЕРЕВОД И КОММЕНТАРИИ | И. И. ШИТЦА | ВСТУПИТЕЛЬНАЯ СТАТЬЯ | А. К ДЖИВЕЛЕГОВА | ACADEMIA | 1936 || Frontispiece: ИТАЛЬЯНСКАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА | ПОД ОБЩЕЙ РЕДАКЦИЕЙ А. К ДЖИВЕЛЕГОВА | АЛЕССАНДРО | МАНЦОНИ | 1785 — 1873 | ACADEMIA | МОСКВА ЛЕНИНГРАД || Title verso: ALESSANDRO MANZONI | I PROMESSI SPOSI | Иллюстрации — автолитография | Е. Д. Белухи | Титула и переплет | по его же рисунку || Pagination: [i-vii] viii-xxxviii [2] [2] 3-946 [8] + 15 leaves of  illustrations. Collation: [I]8 II8 III4 1-598 ⅛605 + 5 leaves of plates + 10 leaves of plates (lithography by Е. Д. Белуха). Binding: 19.5 x 14.5 cm; Publisher’s blue cloth, lettering and design to cover and spine (by Е. Д. Белуха). Print run: 5300 copies. Catalogue raisonné: Крылов-Кичатова (2004): №832, p. 279. Contributors: Мандзони, Алессандро [Manzoni, Alessandro] (Italian, 1785 – 1873) – author of the original text. Шитц, Иван Иванович (Russian, 1874—1942) – translator from the Italian into Russian. Дживелегов, Алексей Карпович (Russian, 1875 – 1952) – editor. Белуха, Евгений Дмитриевич (Russian, 1889 – 1943) – artist. For the first English edition see: [LIB-1332.2017]: Alessandro Manzoni. The betrothed / (Standard novels). — London: R. Bentley, 1834.
  • Iron tsuba of 8-lobed form pierced with six openings (sukashi) and decorated with design of bamboo and arabesque in flat brass inlay (hira-zōgan). Two of the openings serve as hitsu-ana. The design on the face represents bamboo trunks and leaves, clouds, waves, and vines; on the back - vines and leaves, that forms an arabesque (karakusa) motif. Rounded square rim. 'Silver' patina. Hitsu-ana with copper sekigane. Heianjō (most probable) or Kaga-Yoshirō school. Late Muromachi or Momoyama period; 16th century. Size: Height: 74.6 mm; Width: 69.5 mm; Thickness at seppa-dai: 4.2 mm. Weight: 113.9 g. Provenance: Gary D. Murtha. This tsuba is illustrated at: Japanese sword guards. Onin - Heianjo - Yoshiro by Gary D. Murtha [GDM Publications, 2016, p. 48]: "Iron, 80x75x3 mm tsuba with brass karakusa vines and leaves on one side with bamboo, leaves, and clouds on the reverse. This tsuba is one of those pieces that might be classified as Onin or Heianjo work, but the flush inlay tips it to the Heianjo side. Late Muromachi period." I would like to add that it easily may also be classified as Kaga-Yoshirō. Robert Haynes in Study Collection.., page 32, illustrates a look-a-like example, and writes: "This style of inlay, where the designs on the face and the back are very different, was common to the work of artists in Kyoto in the Momoyama period."
  • Paperback, 25 x 17 cm, publisher’s wrappers with red and black lettering in a pictorial frame by Vysheslavstev; pp.: [i-vii] viii-xv [xvi blank], [1-5] 6-348 [4]; collated 8vo: π8 1-228, total 184 leaves, 368 pages; gatherings 1-22 uncut. Because the author was banned, lettering on the spine was covered by a glued strip of blank paper; only the year 1922 was left visible. Front wrapperОЧЕРК | РАЗВИТИЯ | РУССКОЙ | ФИЛОСОФИИ | ГУСТАВА | ШПЕТА | ПЕРВАЯ | ЧАСТЬ | 1922 | ПЕТЕРБУРГ | ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО “КОЛОС” || Title-page: similar lettering in black only with no frame. Design of the front wrapper and the publisher’s device (π1) by Николай Николаевич Вышеславцев [N. Vysheslavstev] (Russian, 1890 – 1952). Title: Sketch on the development of Russian philosophy, Part one. [Part two was never published]. Author: Густав Густавович Шпет [Gustav Shpet] (Russian, 1879 – 1937) – executed by fire squad on 16 November 1937.
  • An iron tsuba of 12-lobed form with alternating four solid and four openwork areas, each with a central bar. Symbolism remains unclear, possibly - a gunbai, i.e. military leader's fan. The solid parts decorated with 5 to 6 rows of brass dots of nail heads inlaid in ten-zōgan. The center of the plate as well as the sukashi elements are outlined with brass wire. The kozuka-hitsu-ana seems original. Muromachi period. Dimensions: 77.9 x 77.5 x 3.2 mm.
  • Half-title: STANDARD NOVELS. | № XLIII. | {6 lines of citation} | THE BETROTHED | COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. | LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY | (SUCCESSOR TO HENRY COLBURN) : | BELL & BRADFUTE, EDINBURGH; | CUMMING, DUBLIN. | 1834 || Illustrated title page: THE BETROTHED, | FROM THE ITALIAN | OF | ALESSANDRO MANZONI. | {vignette by S. Smith after F. Pickering} | LONDON: | RICHARD BENTLEY | (SUCCESSOR TO HENRY COLBURN.) | CUMMING, DUBLIN, – BELL & BRADFUTE, EDINBURGH, | GALIGNANI, PARIS. |1834. || Title page: THE | BETROTHED. | FROM THE ITALIAN | OF | ALESSANDRO MANZONI. | LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, 8 NEW BURLINGTON STREET | (SUCCESSOR TO HENRY COLBURN): | BELL & BRADFUTE, EDINBURGH; | AND CUMMING, DUBLIN. | 1834 || Frontispiece: vignette by S. Smith after F. Pickering. Pagination: [i-v] 6-xii, [1] 2-452 [2 blank] + 2 plates. Collation: [A]6 B-Z8 AA-FF8 GG2  + 2 leaves of plates; Note: A1, A2, A4, GG2 – unsigned; both frontispiece and illustrated title are extraneous to collation. Binding: 2/3 black calf over marbled boards, raised bands w/gilt elements, gilt lettering in compartments and gilt title on a crimson label to spine; contemporary, but not the original publisher's binding; size: 16.5 x 10.5 cm Bookplates: Yellow sticker to front pastedown “J. K. Higgins, Northampton” (unknown); Ex libris to the front flyleaf: “Hilda Moore” (probably Hilda Mary Moore (British, 1886 – 1929) – a British stage and film actress. Series: Bentley's Standard Novels, № 43, first series. Catalogue raisonné: Michael Sadleir (1951): p. 101. Original title: ALESSANDRO MANZONI : I PROMESSI SPOSI Contributors: Manzoni, Alessandro (Italian, 1785 – 1873) Pickering, Ferdinand (British, 1810 – 1889) – artist. Smith, Samuel S. (British, 1810 – 1879) – engraver. A. Spottiswoode (London); Spottiswoode, Andrew (British, 1787 – 1866) – printer. Bentley, Richard (British, 1794 – 1871) – publisher. For the Russian edition see [LIB-1333.2017]: Алессандро Манцони. Обрученные. Повесть из истории Милана XVII века / Перевод И. И. Шитца. (Итальянская литература). — М.-Л.: Academia, 1936.
  • Six-lobed iron tsuba in a form of three ginkgo tree leaves (icho), separated with three small triangular openings (ko-sukashi). Leaves have raised rim and decorated with various family crests (mon) in low relief carving (sukidashi-bori). On obverse: bamboo stems and leaves, knotted geese, paulownia (kiri), plum blossom (ume), and ivy. On reverse: pine needles and cone, maple leaf (kaede), bamboo, stylized plum blossom, and Genji-mon. Black patina. Kozuka hitsu-ana is original, with raised rim. Copper sekigane. Kamakura-bori school. Late Muromachi period (ca. 1550). Size: Height: 81.1 mm. Width: 90.0 mm. Thickness at seppa-dai: 3.3 mm. Weight: 120.4 g.
  • А. Тьюринг. Может ли машина мыслить? / С прил. ст. Дж. фон Неймана "Общая и логическая теория автоматов"; пер. с англ. Ю. А. Данилова; ред. и пред. С. А. Яновской. — М.: Физматгиз, 1960. Title page: А. ТЬЮРИНГ | МОЖЕТ ЛИ | МАШИНА МЫСЛИТЬ? | С приложением статьи ДЖ. фон НЕЙМАНА | ОБЩАЯ И ЛОГИЧЕСКАЯ ТЕОРИЯ АВТОМАТОВ | Перевод с английского | Ю. А. Данилова | Редакция и предисловие | проф. С. А. Яновской | {Publisher’s device «ФМ» | ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО | ФИЗИКО-МАТЕМАТИЧЕСКОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ | МОСКВА 1960 || Pagination: [2] 3-110 [2]. Collation: [1]8, 2-416; 11 (t.p./contents, imprint.) unsigned. Size: 20 x 13 cm Binding: Softcover, front pictorial wrapper – yellow background and radio lamp, lettering: А. Тьюринг. Может ли | машина | мыслить | ? | {publisher's device white on blue "ФМ"} || Contributors: Turing, Alan Mathison (British, 1912 – 1954) – author of the text. John von Neumann (American-Hungarian, 1903 – 1957) – author of the text. Данилов, Юлий Александрович (Russian, 1936 – 2003) – translator. Яновская [Неймарк], Софья Александровна (Russian-Jewish, 1896 – 1966) – author of preface, editor.
  • The thin, four-lobed iron plate of brownish color is carved on each side with two concentric grooves in the middle of the web, and with four thin scroll lines (handles, kan) that follow the shape of the rim. The hitsu-ana were added at a later date.  Copper sekigane. Kamakura-bori school. Muromachi period, circa 1400-1550. Size: Height 80.4 mm, width 79.0 mm, thickness 3.2 mm at seppa-dai and 2.7 mm at the rim. Weight: 97.7 g. NBTHK Certificate №4004241: 'Hozon' attestation. As for the motif: the concentric circles is a widespread and generic design. It is described by John W. Dower [The Elements of Japanese Design, 1985, p. 132, #2201-30] as follows: Circle: Enclosure (wa). As a crest by itself, the cirlce carries obvious connotations of perfection, harmony, completeness, integrity, even peace. [...] Ordinary circles are labeled according to their thickness, with terminology ranging from hairline to "snake's eye". The motif that is described by both Compton Collection and R.E. Haynes as "scrolls", presented by John W. Dower as "Handle (kan): Although probably a purely ornamental and nonrepresentational design in origin, over the centuries this motif acquired the label kan, denoting its resemblance to the metal handles traditionally used on chests of drawers. [...] Very possibly the "handle" motif represents an early abstract version of the popular mokko, or melon pattern." Early Chinese Taoists claimed that special melon was associated with the Eastern Paradise of Mount Horai just as life-giving peaches were associated with the Western Paradise of the Kunlun Mountains. [...] A design motif called mokko (also translated as "melon" in accordance with the two ideographs with which it is written) may have nothing to do with the fruit. Mokko designs... are widely used as crests of both private families and Shinto shrines and are repeated as background designs that evoke a sense of classicism" [Symbols of Japan. Merrily Baird, 2001]. There is a look alike tsuba at Dr. Walter A. Compton Collection, 1992, Christie’s auction, Part II, pp. 14-15, №16: The description goes: “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. And another one in Robert E. Haynes Catalog #9 on page 24-25 under №23: R.E. Haynes description: “Typical later Kamakura-bori style work. This type of plate and carving show the uniform work produced by several schools in the Muromachi 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 round form decorated with design of pine tree mushrooms (matsutake) in openwork (sukashi). Hitsu-ana of elongated oval form. Raised rim (mimi) with iron bones (tekkotsu). Copper sekigane. Size: 84.5 mm x 85.1 mm; thickness: 3.0 mm (center), 5.6 mm (rim). Mid Muromachi period, 15th century. The shape and width of the rim, as well as the shape of the hitsu-ana, argue for earlier Muromachi. Tsuba is slightly wider than high, that might suggest middle of Muromachi age. According to Robert Haynes, circa 1450-1500.
  • Title page: Л. А. РАСТРИГИН | ВЫЧИСЛИТЕЛЬНЫЕ | МАШИНЫ, | СИСТЕМЫ, СЕТИ… | {Publisher’s device } | МОСКВА «НАУКА» | ГЛАВНАЯ РЕДАКЦИЯ | ФИЗИКО-МАТЕМАТИЧЕСКОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ | 1982 || Pagination: [2] 3-223 [224]. Collation: [1]16, 2-716; 11 unsigned. Size: 20 x 12.5 cm Binding: Pictorial wrappers with a gradient orange to brown background, and lettering on stylized computer screen Л. А. РАСТРИГИН | ВЫЧИСЛИТЕЛЬНЫЕ | МАШИНЫ, | СИСТЕМЫ, СЕТИ … || Print run: 100,000 copies. Contributors: Растригин, Леонард Андреевич (Russian, 1929 – 1998)