• 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 Publisher: Iseya Ichiemon [伊勢屋市右衛門] (Japanese, fl. c. 1820s – c. 1860s); seal Tsuji [辻] (Marks 16-029). Media: Untrimmed fan print (uchiwa-e), 225 x 295 mm, plus 10 mm paper strip glued on top (235 mm total height). Title: Plucking Popular Songs in Those Days [時世葉歌の爪弾] (Imayo ha-uta no tsuma-biki). Date seal and aratame seal: Ansei 3 (1856). Seller's Description: Uchiwa-e; picture intended for a summer fan. Here we see a relaxed beauty wearing loose layers of kimono and playing her shamisen instrument. She appears to be in the happy mood of spring, her singing inspired by the cherry blossoms in full bloom that we see outside of her window. She enjoys leisurely plucking with the plectrum of the shamisen and singing “ha-uta” (popular) songs. The title Ha-uta [葉歌] is normally written 端歌, which indicates a certain category of popular songs accompanied by shamisen with short texts that are drawn from daily life.  Here however, the title葉歌 uses phonetically the same “ha“, referring to the title of the book of a collection of ha-uta songs, Matsu no ha [松の], which was published in five volumes in 1703 by Shûshôken 秀松軒. It is said that this collection of songs was written and sung by the blind (who were often musicians by livelihood). Behind her, lying on the window sill, we see two ha-uta songbooks, one open and one closed. The last half of the title tsuma-biki [爪弾] translates “to pluck with fingers” instead of a plectrum, which is the usual way of playing the shamisen. 
  • Hand-coloured woodcut on wove paper, 472 x 365 mm; black ink stamp “5275” to reverse. Top centre: "LE PRINCE IMPÉRIAL"; right: "№143." Image in the middle: Prince Impérial, with his father, conducts a review of the children's army "REVUE DES PUPILLES DE LA GARDE". Besides – five tiers of captioned cartoons. Bottom left: "Imp. lith. de Pellerin à Épinal"; right: Propriété de l’Éditeur. Déposé." Jean Charles Pellerin (French, 1756 – 1836) – printer/publisher.  
  • Fuchi-kashira made of shakudō carved and inlaid with gold and red copper with the design of a bat and a fruit (persimmon?). Nanako surface.

    Fuchi: 37 x 19 x 7 mm. Kashira: 34 x 16 x 5 mm. Main material: shakudō. Other metals: gold and copper. Surface treatment: nanako-ji.
     
  • Kitagawa Utamaro. According to Chris Uhlenberg this is an illustration from the book Ehon koi no Onamaki, 3 vols, published in Kansei 11 (1799). Illustrated in b/w in: Hayashi Yoshikazu: Kitagawa Utamaro, in the series: Edo makura-e shi shusei, published in 1990, reissued 1994. Size: Chuban (25.5 x 18.5 cm), two book pages glued together.  
  • Title: PETER SCHLEMIHL: | FROM THE GERMAN | OF LAMOTTE FOUQUÉ | WITH PLATES BY GEORGE CRUICKSHANK. | "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, | "Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." | SHAKESPEARE. | — | LONDON: | G. AND W. B. WHITTAKER, | AVE MARIA LANE. | 1824.|| Pagination: xii, 165 p. : ill. No Adelbert von Chamisso (German, 1781 – 1838) name on the title page. George Cruikshank's name printed with a typo 'Cruickshank'. The attribution on the title-page to Friedrich de La Motte-Fouqué (German, 1777 – 1843) is erroneous. The original German was edited by La Motte Fouqué. The translation was performed by Sir John Bowring (British, 1792 – 1872) First edition in English, third issue with no hyphen between "Ave" and 'Maria" in publisher's imprint.

    In a cover box of red cloth over cardboard. Box: 21 x 13 x 2.3 cm; book: 19.3 x 11.8 x 1.7 cm; Crown 8vo. Red cardboard binding. Printed spine labels mounted on spine of the box and the book. Untrimmed edges.

    Reference: Cohn 475.
  • Title: РУССКIЕ ГРАВЕРЫ | И | ИХЪ ПРОИЗВЕДЕНIЯ | СЪ 1564 ГОДА | ДО ОСНОВАНIЯ АКАДЕМIИ ХУДОЖЕСТВЪ. | Изследованiе Д. Ровинскаго. | Изданiе графа Уварова. | МОСКВА. | Въ Сѵнодальной типографiи, на Никольской улицѣ. | 1870. || Pagination: [2] orig. wrapper / advert., [2] t.p. / imp.[i] ii-x, [1] 2-403 [404], [2] orig. wrapper / advert. Collation: 8vo; π6 (incl. t.p.), 1-258 χ2 Binding: Owner’s ½ black morocco over marbled boards, raised bands, gilt-ruled, florets and lettering in compartments, blue endpapers, uncut, untrimmed, original wrappers preserved. Size: 29.5 x 19 cm
  • Cover: LES | RÉUNIONS PUBLIQUES | A PARIS | 1868 — 1869 | PAR | AUGUSTE VITU | TROISIÈME ÉDITION | Augmentée d’un Appendice contenant les Jugements et Arrêts | rendus à Paris en matière de réunions publiques | PARIS | E. DENTU, LIBRAIRE-ÉDITEUR | PALAIS-ROYAL, 17-19, GALERIE D’ORLÉANS | MAI 1869 || ; t.p. similar with no dash between 17 and 19 in the bottom. Pagination: [1-5] 6-151 [1]; collation: 8vo, [1]8 2-98 103; 23 x 14 cm, publisher’s lettered blue paper wrappers. Printer: Dubuisson et Cie (Paris). Vitu, Auguste-Charles-Joseph (French, 1823 – 1891)
  • Title page: AVENTURES | DE | ROBINSON CRUSOE | PAR | DANIEL DEFOE | TRADUCTION NOUVELLE | ☙ |EDITION ILLUSTREE PAR GRANDVILLE | ❧ |PARIS | H. FOURNIER AINÉ, ÉDITEUR | 16 RUE DE SEINE | — | M DCCC XL || {sic: no accents in EDITION ILLUSTREE) Pagination: [4] [1]-610, [2] [1]-4., 620 pp. total plus 82 leaves of plates, unpaginated. Collation: 2 binder’s blank leaves, front publisher’s wrapper, h.t / imprint, 2 copies of engraved frontispiece on china paper, t.p. / blank, etc., … text..., back wrapper and spine bound in; 4to: π2 [1]-774 (310 leaves total) plus 40 x 2 plates extraneous to collation. Illustrations: 2 head- and 2 tailpieces, 2 initials, 159 vignettes, and 40 lettered plates each in two variants: one printed on a regular page, and one printed on India paper and pasted to a page. Page size: 24 x 15 cm. Frontispiece: Cut on wood by Louis-Henri Brevière after J. J. Grandville and Français. “Robinson sits on a throne-like chair framed by exotic palm trees. The sculptural and quasi-royal representation of Robinson is flanked by his faithful dog and parrot. The hero’s tools (the gun and the axe) are prominently displayed. He looks to the horizon away to the left, rather than to the tiny ship that can be seen on the horizon. His overcoming of life’s difficult events is at the core of the representation. The massive plinth reinforces the aura of the hero, as do the tiny people admiring the sculpture and learning about the heroic figure. Friday is discreetly represented in a medallion on the plinth along with other decorations including goats and a «savage»". [Sitzia, E. (2020). Lost in Intersemiotic Translation? J.J. Grandville’s Illustration of Robinson Crusoe. Journal for Literary and Intermedial Crossings, 5(2). https://clic.research.vub.be/sites/default/files/atoms/files/SITZIA_FIN.pdf] The monument has an inscription: “ FERNAND | SUEZ” which we deciphered as either a tribute to Juan Fernández (Spanish, c. 1536 – c. 1604) or as a mention of the place where Crusoe’s adventures took place: Archipiélago Juan Fernández to which Isla Róbinson Crusoe belongs. Binding: 24.8 x 16.4 cm, by Emile Mercier, half green crushed morocco over marbled boards, gilt-ruled, spine ornately gilt, sunned to orange tone, marbled endpapers, publisher's pale yellow wrappers bound in; only the top edge trimmed. Contributors: Daniel Defoe (British, 1660 – 1731) – author. J. J. Grandville [Gèrard, Isidore-Adolphe] (French, 1803 – 1847) – artist. François-Louis Français (French, 1814 – 1897) – artist (frontispiece, landscapes). Engravers:  John Quartley (British, fl. 1835 – 1867) Matthew Urlwin Sears (British, 1799 – 1870) Adolphe Best (French, 1808 – 1860) One of the Guillaumots: Eugène Guillaumot (French, Paris 1813–1869), or Auguste Etienne Guillaumot (French,1844 – 1890), or his father Auguste-Alexandre Guillaumot (French, 1815 – 1892) Laisné [Alfred, Adèle, and Aglaé] (French, active 1835–1868) Antoine-Alphée Piaud (French, 1813 – 1867) Louis Dujardin (French, 1808 – 1859) A. Hans (nothing is known) Jean Louis Joseph Camille Lacoste (French, 1809 – 1866) Louis-Henri Brevière (French, 1797 – 1869) – vignettes. Provenance: Bishop, Cortlandt Field (American, 1870 – 1935) – bookplate; Mary S. Collins – bookplate by J. H. Fincken Robin F. Satinsky (American, 1919 – 2008) – Robin Collection bookplate. Catalogue raisonné: Brivois (1883) p. 155; Ray (French): № 193, p. 272; Carteret (1927): p. 241. All indicated in-8vo, which doesn't correspond to our in-4to copy.
  • Description by British Museum (1865,1111.2128): "Two designs, side by side. [1] A dandy (probably a portrait), florid, whiskered, and bearded, steps jauntily from the pavement, hand extended, saying: Ah! my dear fellow — How are you? Devilish glad to see ye!— He holds a closed umbrella, ferrule erect, and wears a long tight-waisted coat to the heels, unbuttoned, tight pantaloons and spurred boots. In the middle distance, another dandy grasps the hand of a friend on horseback. Behind are houses with shop-fronts. A man raises his hat to a lady who curtseys. [2] The same dandy steps from the roadway onto the pavement, his handkerchief to his nose; he stoops, trying to conceal himself from a dandy cantering past in a cloud of dust, his eye-glass to his eye. He is without gloves, extraordinary for a dandy, and his trousers are strapped over pumps; he says: Con-found it! — Didn't expect to meet Him!! The street is otherwise empty; against the (large) houses are scaffolding and a tall ladder." Lettered with title, text within image including production details: 'Ego. delt / Etched by G. Ck / Pubby J Fairburn Broadway Ludgate Hill August 18 1826'. Dimensions: Sheet: 25.5 x 36 cm, Image: 21.7 x 33.8 cm. Catalogue raisonné: A. M. Cohn (1924): № 1001, p. 262.: "A wretched plate. Difficult to believe G. C. had anything to do with it." — Bruton. Value.— £1.
  • Title: Seventh lunar month [初秋] (Hatsuaki no zu); Series: Fashionable Twelve Months (Imayo juni-kagetsu). Another version of translation: Modern Beauties of Twelve Months. Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I [歌川豊国] (1769–1825). Pubisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, 1815 – 1869), seal: Dansendō [伊場仙]. Signed: Toyokuni ga and sealed with toshidama. Date-kiwame seal: Ushi (ox), Bunsei 5 (1822). Size: double-sheet uncut fan print ( aiban uchiwa-e), 219 x 295 mm.
  • Bandō Mitsugorō III as Daihanji Kiyozumi and Arashi Koroku IV as Koganosuke in kabuki play Imoseyama, an example of womanly virtue (Imoseyama onna teikin). 大判事清澄 坂東三津五郎」(三代)・「久我之助 嵐小六」(四代) Artist: Shunkōsai Hokushū [春好斎北洲] (Japanese, fl. 1802 – 1832) Year: 1821 (3rd month). MFA description: “The Kabuki play Mount Imo and Mount Se: An Exemplary Tale of Womanly Virtue (Imoseyama onna teikin), originally based on a puppet play, is set in ancient Japan when the Soga clan served as regents to the emperor. Two children, Hinadori and Koganosuke, of rival court families, are held hostage under orders from the tyrant Soga no Iruka to ensure their families do not revolt. The children fall in love, but rather than create conflicts for their families they each vow to die by suicide. When the parents learn of their plans, they resolve to cooperate to overthrow Iruka. Here Koganosuke and his father Kiyozumi are shown; a companion sheet on the left would have shown Hinadori and her mother Sadaka.” The play Imoseyama, an example of womanly virtue (Imoseyama onna teikin), was staged at Osaka's Kado Shibai (Kadoza, Kado Gekijô, Kado no Shibai) from 3/1821. According to Herwig, it is the right sheet of a diptych (see below). MFA Accession number: 2011.128 Kabuki actors: Bandō Mitsugorō III [三代目 坂東 三津五郎] (Japanese, 1775 – 1831); other names: Bandō Minosuke I, Morita Kanjirô II, Bandō Mitahachi I, Bandō Minosuke I, Bandō Mitahachi I. Arashi Koroku IV [四代目嵐小六] (Japanese, 1783 – 1826)
    Ref.: [LIB-1197.2016] Arendie and Henk Herwig. Heroes of the kabuki stage: an introduction to kabuki with retellings of famous plays, illustrated by woodblock prints. — Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2004; p. 72:
    Ref: [LIB-2973.2022] Ukiyo-e: A journey through the Floating World / Exhibition catalogue (Japan, Jan-Jul 2014). — The Yomiuri Shimbun, 2014; № 358, p. 226. "Bandō Mitsugorō III as Grand arbiter Kiyosumi and Arashi Koroku IV as Koganosuke":
  • Artist: Toyohara Chikanobu [豊原周延] (Japanese, 1838 – 1912) Signed: Chikanobu hitsu [周延筆] Publisher: [ 東京掘江町] Tokyo Horiemachi | [えん市製] Enshi-sei. Media: Fan print (uchiwa-e, 団扇絵), 192 x 172 mm. Possibly Iwai Kumesaburō IV [岩井粂三郎] (1856 – 1886) a.k.a. Iwai Hisajirō III [岩井久次郎] in the role of Ono no Komachi [小野乃小町] and Nakamura Shikan IV [中村芝翫] in the role of Kisen Hōshi [喜せん法師]. Play: The Six Immortal Poets in Colorful Guises [六歌仙体綵] (Rokkasen Sugata no irodori). Inscription: Left: Kisen [喜せん] | Shikan [芝翫]  Right: Komachi [小町] | Kumesaburō [粂三郎]. Actors: Iwai Kumesaburō IV [岩井粂三郎] (1856 – 1886) a.k.a. Iwai Hisajirō III [岩井久次郎]. Nakamura Shikan IV [中村芝翫] (Japanese, 1831 –  1899); other names: Nakamura Fukusuke I [中村福助], Nakamura Masanosuke I, Nakamura Komasaburō, Nakamura Tamatarō I.
  • Two volumes in-12, 16.8 x 11.5 cm each, uniformly bound in ¾ red crushed morocco over marbled boards, spine with raised bands and gilt lettering, marbled endpapers, text printed on laid paper, 6 plates (3 in each vol.) on India paper pasted in on thick laid paper leaves. This edition seems similar to Nordmann I 203 but without Félicien Rops' frontispiece and plates, replaced by unsigned etchings attributed to Gustave Staal. Title-page (red and black): LE RICHE DE LA POPELINIÈRE | – | TABLEAUX | DES | MŒURS DU TEMPS | DANS LES DIFFÉRENTS AGES DE LA VIE | – | NOTICE DE | CHARLES MONSELET | – | TOME PREMIER (SECOND) | {fleuron} | PARIS | IMPRIMERIE DES CI-DEVANT FERMIERS GÉNÉRAUX | – | M D CCC L XVII || Vol. 1: π2 (h.t., t.p.) a4 (Notice), 1-1312 151 (Table); total 91 leaves plus three leaves of plates. Pagination: [4] [i] ii-vii [viii] [3] 4-168 [2]; total 182 pp, ils. facing pp. 59, 78, and 94. Vol. 2: π2 (h.t., t.p.), 1-1312, 152; total 88 leaves plus three leaves of plates. Pagination: [4] [1] 2-170 [2]; total 176 pp, ils. facing pp. 74, 78, and 145. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel I: A-1044 — without Félicien Rops ‘ornementations’, but with ‘6 gravures de 1865’. Dutel suggests that the edition was performed by A. Poulet-Malassis, Briard or Lécrivain. Catalogue Poulet-Malassis & ses amis description: № 43. LE RICHE DE LA POPELINIÈRE. Tableaux des mœurs du temps dans les diérents âges de la vie, tome premier (— second). Notice de M. Charles Monselet. Imprimerie des ci-devant fermiers généraux, Paris, M D CCC LXVII [A. Poulet-Malassis, 1867]. Exemplaire sans le frontispice de Félicien Rops mais bien complet des 6 figures de Staal, justification qui illustre les aléas de la confection des publications clandestines. D’une part, c’est une autre édition qui est décrite par Launay. L’exemplaire vendu chez Maître Loudmer avait 6 figures, comme ici. Cluzel a vu un “front. et 4 vignettes de Rops plus cinq figures libres (par Staal)”, Simonson a vu 5 figures de Rops, etc., etc. Il y a 3 bandeaux et 3 culs-de-lampe de Rops qui ont été fréquemment utilisés par d’autres éditeurs pour d’autres titres pendant toute la seconde moitié du xixe siècle. La Léonina présente une fiche détaillée sur 4 pages. 3 bandeaux et 3 culs-de-lampe gravés sur bois de Rops. Bibliographie : Pia 1389, Launay 327, Gay 6-308, Pey 122 (1800 frs avec 5 figures), PC 503 et 504, Lemonnyer 3-1173, LL 66, Leonina 81, Nordmann 1-203, Dutel A-1043. Contributors: Alexandre Jean Joseph Le Riche de La Popelinière (French, 1693 – 1762) – author. Charles Monselet (French, 1825 – 1888) – author (foreword). Pierre-Gustave-Eugène Staal (French, 1817 – 1882) – artist. Auguste Poulet-Malassis (French, 1825 – 1878) – publisher.
  • Hand-coloured lithography on wove paper, 395 x 280 mm; black ink stamp “5309” to reverse. On image: artist's initials "L. H."; on stone: "Lith. de Fr. Wentzel a Wissembourg. — Déposé — DÉPÔT, Fr. Wentzel Editeur rue St. Jacques 65, PARIS"; below centre: "239"; bottom : La famille Impériale. Die Kaizerliche Familie. Napoleon III [Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte] (French, 1808 – 1873) Eugénie de Montijo [L'impératrice Eugénie] (Spanish-French, 1826 – 1920) Napoléon, Prince Imperial (Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte] (French, 1856 – 1879) Jean Frédéric Wentzel (French, 1807 – 1869) – publisher/printer.
  • Torii Kiyomitsu II (Kiyomine), Japanese, 1787–1868. Courtesan and her Komura (Doll Festival). Series: Furyu Goyo no Matsu (Customs of 5 Pine Needles, the 5 great festivals). Publisher: Tsuruya Kiemon [Marks: 553].  
  • 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 reading a book in the light of a lamp. 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-0306.2020: A young woman adjusting her hairpins in the light of a paper lantern.

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

    Publisher: Maruya Kiyojiro.

    Size: Vertical Ōban (37.5 x 25.4 cm).
  • Convolute with three editions, dedicated to the Commune of Paris, 1871. (1) LES | Publications de la Rue | pendant | LE SIEGE ET LA COMMUNE | SATIRES — CANARDS — COMPLAINTES — CHANSONS | PLACARDS ET PAMPHLETS | BIBLIOGRAPHIE | PITTORESQUE ET ANECDOTIQUE | Par Firmin MAILLARD |{publisher’s device}| PARIS | AUGUSTE AUBRY, ÉDITEUR | 18, RUE SÉGUIER, 18 | 1874 || Pagination: ffl, original pictorial wrapper, [2] – blank / advert., [2] – h.t. / blank, [2] – h.t. / colophon imprim. PILLET FILS AINÉ, frontis. similar to front wrapper without '1874', [2] – t.p. / blank, [v] vi-xii, [1] 2-198, three blank leaves, back wrapper. (2) VILLE DE SAINT-DENIS | EXPOSITION D'ART & D'HISTOIRE | La Commune de Paris |18 Mars 1871 28 Mai | AVANT-PROPOS DE Lucien DESCAVES | de l’Académie Goncourt | PREFACE DE Jacques DORIOT | Député de la Seine, Maire de Saint-Denis | Du 17 Mars au 26 Mai 1935 | au Musée Municipal | 4, place de la Légion d’Honneur – Saint-Denis || Pagination: original pictorial wrapper in black and red, frontis., [2] - t.p. / blank, [2] – commité, v-xiii [xiv] 1-113 [114], 26 plates (13 leaves), blank back wrapper, spine tipped-in. (3) J. LEMONNYER | LES | JOURNAUX DE PARIS | PENDANT | LA COMMUNE | REVUE BIBLIOGRAPHIQUE COMPLETE | DE LA PRESSE PARISIENNE | du 19 Mars au 27 Mai | AVEC |{7 lines of text}| ET | UNE TABLE ALPHABÉTIQUE | DONNANT LE PRIX-COURANT DE CHAQUE COLLECTION | PARIS : J. LEMONNYER, Librarire | 73, Rue de Provence, 73 || Pagination: [2] - t.p. / blank, [2] – preface, [7] 8-94, green back wrapper w/advert., bfl. (lacks original front wrapper). Binding: Modern (20th century) red cloth, black label with gilt lettering to spine, matching marbled endpapers. Size: 18.5 x 13 cm; 12mo.
  • Title : CHARLES VIRMAITRE | LA COMMUNE | A PARIS | 1871 | {cit. 5 lines Emile de Girardin} | PARIS | LIBRAIRIE INTERNATIONALE | A. LACROIX, VERBOECKHOVEN ET Ce, ÉDITEURS | 15 boulevart Montmartre et faubourg Montmartre, 13 | MÉME MAISON A BRUXELLES, A LEIPZIG ET A LIVOURNE | 1871 | DROITS DE TRADUCTION ET DE REPRODUCTION RÉSERVÉS || Pagination : [2] – h.t. / imprint., [2] – t.p. / blank, [2] – dedicatation to Thiers / blank, [2] – table / blank, [1], 2-280; [total 288 pages]. Collation: 18mo; π4 1-1318 1514. Binding: red quarter morocco over red buckram boards, raised bands, gilt lettering, gilt flower lozenges in compartments, marbled endpapers.