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A two-volume set: (1) Thomas Hugo. The Bewick Collector. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Works of Thomas and John Bewick; Including cuts, in various states, for Books and Pamphlets, Private Gentlemen, Public Companies, Exhibitions, Races, Newspapers, Shop Cards, Invoice Heads, Bar Bills, Coal Certificates, Broadsides, and other miscellaneous purposes, and Wood Blocks. With an Appendix of Portraits, Autographs, Works of Pupils, etc., etc. The whole described from the Originals contained in the largest and most perfect collection ever formed, and illustrated with a hundred and twelve cuts. — London: Lovell Reeve and Co., MDCCCLXVI [1866]. — [Printed by] J. E. Taylor and Co., printers. — pp.: [i-v] vi-xxiii [xxiv], [1] 2-562. (2) Thomas Hugo. The Bewick Collector. A Supplement to a Descriptive Catalogue of the Works of Thomas and John Bewick; Consisting of additions to the various divisions of cuts, wood blocks. etc., enumerated in that work. The whole described from the Originals contained in the largest and most perfect collection ever formed, and illustrated with a hundred and eighty cuts. — London: L. Reeve and Co, MDCCCLXVIII [1868]. — [Printed by] J. E. Taylor and Co., printers. — pp.: [i-vii] viii-xxxii, [1] 2-353. Both volumes in 8vo, 22.5 x 14.5 cm, hardcover. Contemporary dark brown half morocco, gilt-ruled, with 5 raised bands, gilt titles and decoration to spine, and marbled paper over boards. Top edge gilt; marbled endpapers. Binding splitting at pp.80/81 of the 1st volume. Armorial bookplate of Ralph Hart Tweddle to front pastedown. Ralph Hart Tweddle (1843 – 1895) was a British mechanical engineer, known particularly for inventing the portable hydraulic riveter, which greatly facilitated the construction of boilers, bridges and ships. -
[Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon]. The Political and Historical Works of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, President of the French Republic, Now First Collected With An Original Memoir of His Life, Brought Down to the Promulgation of the Constitution of 1852; and Occasional Notes, Complete in Two Volumes. London: Illustrated London Library, MDCCCLII [1852]. Collation: Vol. 1: [i-v] vi [vii-viii (blank)] [1] 2-462 [463,464 (blank)]; Vol. 2: [1-3] 4-439 [440]. Size: 22.8 x 14.8 cm (8vo), each. Binding: hardcover; half red morocco and cloth boards, five raised bands, gilt title and decoration, top edge gilt. Frontispiece portrait of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in Vol. 1. Condition: Very good, rubbing to outer joints, leather corners, faint foxing to endpapers, ownership signature on half-title. Internally bright and unmarked. In binding by Brentano's, New York. -
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: Kojimaya Jūbei (c. 1797-1869), seal: Hanmoto, Jū [板元, 十] (Marks 19-043 | 264c).
Double nanushi censor seals: Mera & Watanabe – Kaei 4 (1851).
Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e), 298 x 228 mm depicting a young woman adjusting her hairpin and holding a portable lantern (andon) on a marine background with the full moon, nearby boats and distant cormorant fishers. -
Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi [歌川 國芳] (Japanese, 1798 – 1861) Publisher: British Museum provides for the title as Enkyoku-zoroi [艶曲揃] (Set of Voluptuous Melodies) and the publisher as Sanpei. Indeed, 三平 (Sanpei) was a wholesale fan shop at the end of the Edo period. However, Andreas Marks identifies the publisher's seal as 三平 Mihei = Mikawaya Heiroku (1848-56), a member of the Fan Producing Guild (AM 11-016|325a). Block carver: Yokokawa Takejirō, seal: Carver Taki [彫竹] (Hori Take)Signed: Ichiyosai Kuniyoshi ga in a red cartouche and sealed with paulownia (kiri mon).
Date seal and double nanushi censor seals: Fuku & Muramatsu, 1853 (Kaei 6, 2nd month).
Size: Uchiwa-e (untrimmed fan print) 296 x 230 mm.
SVJP-0303.2019
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Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865)Promotional fan for a hairpin shop, with a poem by Ichikawa Danjuro VII, signed Hakuen.
Date seal plus rectangular kiwame seal: Bunsei 8 (1825).
Size: Fan print. Uchiwa-e (27.5 x 21.1 cm) Publisher seal: Maru-To (2) (Marks U204). Date seal plus rectangular kiwame seal: Bunsei 8 (1825). -
Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865).Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e), 295 x 230 mm, depicting kabuki actor Bandō Shūka I as Shirai Gonpachi (白井権八) reading a scroll by the light of a lantern. From the series A Parody of the Five Chivalrous Commoners; a Cup of Sake From Their Fans (Mitate gonin otoko, go-hiiki no omoizashi). According to Paul Griffith, the term omoizashi refers to the act of pouring a cup of sake for one's chosen partner, here giving an impression of intimacy and affection between famous actors and their patrons.
Actor: Bandō Shūka I [初代坂東しうか] (Japanese, 1813-1855); other names: Bandō Tamasaburō I, Bandō Mitsugorō V (posthumously). The print was probably published by some unknown Yama-Ta (Marks U421b). Double nanushi censor seals and date seal: Muramatsu and Fuku, Kaei 5, 2nd month (2/1852). As Kabuki Encyclopedia put it: "Gonpachi. A parasite. From the character named Shirai Gonpachi who lives at the home of Banzui Chōbei and sponges off him" (An English-Langauge Adaptation of Kabuki Jiten. Samuel L. Leiter. Greenwood Press, 1979, pp. 26, 98-9). There were many kabuki plays based on the story of the lovers Miura-ya Komurasaki and Shirai Gonpachi. (See: [LIB-2226.2019] Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford. Tales of Old Japan. — London: Macmillan and Co., 1883). Ref.: Art shop Ezoshi Ukiyoe new collection news, vol. 66, 2023.1 (Jan) # 31, p.8. -
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: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. 1815 – 1869). Block carver: Yokokawa Takejirō [横川竹二郎] (Japanese, fl. 1845 – 1863), seal: 彫竹 – Hori Take. Date seal and aratame censor seal: May of the Year of Dragon [辰五] (Tatsu-go) (5/1856) (Not in Marks).
Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e) depicting Onoe Kikugorō IV as Karukaya Dōshin parting from his son, Ishidomaru (played by Ichimura Uzaemon XIII), and Kawarasaki Gonjūrō I as Yamazakiya Yogoro in the kabuki play Karukaya Dōshin Tsukushi no Iezuto [苅萱桑門筑紫𨏍], written by Namiki Sōsuke [並木宗輔] (Japanese, 1695 – 1751) and performed at Ichimuraza [市村座] in 05/1856.
Media: Fan print [団扇絵] (Uchiwa-e); size: 235 x 305 mm.
Actors:
Onoe Kikugorō IV [四代目 尾上菊五郎] (Japanese, 1808 – 1860); other names: Onoe Baikō IV, Onoe Eizaburō III, Onoe Kikue, Nakamura Tatsuzō, Nakamura Kachō.
Onoe Kikugorō V [五代目尾上菊五郎] (Japanese, 1844 – 1903 other names: Onoe Baikō V, Ichimura Kakitsu IV, Ichimura Uzaemon XIII [十三代目市村羽左衛門], Ichimura Kurōemon.
Ichikawa Danjūrō IX [市川団十郎] (Japanese, 1838 – 1903); other names: Kawarasaki Sanshō, Kawarasaki Gonnosuke VII, Kawarasaki Gonjūrō I, Kawarasaki Chōjūrō III.
Plot: It was a popular belief at one time that jealous women had their hair transformed into writhing serpents and Kato Sayemon Shige-Uji, a daimyo of Tsukushi, a much-married man, suffered from the delusion that his wife was so affected. He fled to the mountains to escape her and led the life of a hermit under the name of Karukaya Doshin [苅萓道心]. One day, on Mount Kōya (高野山, Kōyasan) Karukaya meets a young man who was wandering in the mountains. Being questioned, the youth tells his name, Ishidomaru, and elicits the information that he is seeking his lost father. Karukaya then recognizes the boy as his own son, but firm in the resolve to remain lost to the world, he refrains from disclosing himself, and bids the youth return home.
Provenance: Paul F. Walter (American, 1935 – 2017).
Ref.:
- [LIB-2110.2019] Samuel L. Leiter. Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre (Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts). / 2nd edition. – Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014; pp. 379-380.
- [LIB-2206.2019] Basil Stewart. Subjects portrayed in Japanese colour-prints. — London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., 1922.
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Seated portrait of Russian diplomat Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov (Семён Романович Воронцо́в; 26 June 1744 – 9 July 1832). Engraved by August Weger (Born: 1823 in Nürnberg; died: 1892 in Leipzig) from the portrait painted by Richard Evans (1784–1871). Circa 1825-50. Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov, the son of Count Roman Illarionovich and Marfa Ivanovna Surmina, was born on June 15, 1744; Active Privy Councillor; Ambassador to Venice and London from 1784, for over 20 years. Died in London on June 26, 1832.
Inscription: Графъ Семенъ Романовичь Воронцовъ. Родился въ Москвѣ Iюня 15-го/26 1744, Скончался въ Лондонѣ Iюня 9-го/21 1822. | Le Comte Simon Woronzow. né à Moscou le 26 Juin 1744, Mort à Londres le 21 Juin 1832. | Richd. Evans, Peintre. - Gravé par A. Weger, Leipzig. Vorontsov family coat of arms in the middle.
Dimensions: 23 x 15 cm. Ref.: Подробный словарь русских гравированных портретов Д. А. Ровинского, том. 1, 534-540. -
Untrimmed fan print (uchiwa-e), 231 x 300 mm. Title: A geisha eating edamame aboard the boat of the Atari-ya teahouse. Series: Three summer women [九夏三婦久] (Kyūka sanfuku). Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Artist: Utagawa Kunihisa II [歌川国久] a.k.a. Katsuda Hisatarō, Ichiunsai, Ritchōrō, Toyonobu, Yōryūsai, Yōsai] (Japanese, 1832 – 1981). Block cutter: Yokokawa Horitake [横川彫武] a.k.a. Yokokawa Takejiro [横川竹二郎] (Japanese, fl. 1860s). Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. C. 1845 – 1847) Combined date seal and kiwame censor seal: 1860 (Ansei 7 / Man'en 1 from 18/III). Signed: Toyokuni ga in toshidama cartouche, and Kunihisa ga. Provenance: The Collection of Paul F. Walter, Christie's, New York, 2017, lot 341; sol together with 5 other fan prints for $25,000. Before: Israel Goldman, Japanese Prints, Catalogue 9, 2003, no. 35. Ref: [LIB-1693.2018] The Collection of Paul Walter. — NY: Christie's, 2017, p. 363. Ref: Israel Goldman, Catalogue 2018, № 52: "Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) and Utagawa Kunihisa II (1832-1891) A Geisha Eating Edamame Aboard the Boat of the Atari-ya Teahouse. From the series Kyuka sanfuku (Three Summer Women). 1860. Fan print. 22.7 x 29.6 cm. Provenance: Israel Goldman, Japanese Prints, Catalogue 9, 2003, no. 35. The Collection of Paul F. Walter, Christies, New York, 201, lot 341. Fine impression, colour and condition. The title is a pun on “kyuka sanpuku” meaning the hottest point of the summer. The background view is by Kunisada’s pupil Kunihisa." -
Шамиссо, Адальбертъ фонъ. Петеръ Шлемиль. Чудесная исторiя. Пер. П.Потемкина. Рис., виньетки и перепет Эмиля Преторiуса по 1-му нѣм. изд. 1814 г. — СПб.: Книгоиздательство "Пантеонъ", 1910. — 107 стр. Отпечатано в типографии акц. о-ва типографск. дела в СПБ (Герольд), 7 рота, 26.
Cardboard binding, 8vo, 20 x 15 cm. Russian translation of Adelbert von Chamisso book Peter Schlemihl, from the German by Peter Potemkine. With illustrations from 1814 original German first edition by Emil Preetorius. [SV: the latest statement seems strange as Emil Preetorius lived from 1883 to 1973]. -
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. -
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.
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Folio (246 x 321 mm), hardbound in red-brown cloth with gilt lettering and decoration. Content, Introduction by J. E., September, 1873, Artist preface by Bertall, Paris, 1871-1873. Album with 40 hand-colored lithographs by Bertall, numbered 1 through 40, accompanied with extensive descriptions. Ex Libris: Baker. Carpe Diem. Markings: Janny M. Baker with J.L.B. Love, 19 March, 1878 in black ink. -
Folio (240 x 320 mm), hardbound in blue-aubergine cloth with gilt lettering and decoration. Album with Avant-Propos and 34 hand-colored lithographs by Bertall, numbered 1 through 34. Details in Russian: "Памяти парижской коммуны". -
Voyage ou Il vous plaira by Alfred de Musset and P.-J. Stahl (Hetzel); Tony Johannot (illustrations). [Les chefs d'oeuvres de la litterature et de l'illustration] // Marescq et Cie, éditeurs, - Paris, 1856.
Contes de Charles Nodier by Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier (1780 – 1844) illustrated by H. Émy.
Owner's binding in red half Morocco, A4 (297 x 219 mm). "Voyage ou Il vous plaira" (60 pages) and fairy tales by Charles Nodier with illustrations by H. Émy (Armand-Louis-Henri Telory, born in Strasbourg in 1820 and died in 1874): "La Fée aux miettes" ; "Le songe d'or (fable levantine)"; "La légende de la Soeur Béatrix"; "Trilby"; Inès de las Sierras"; "Baptiste Montauban"; "Smarra ou les démons de la nuit"; "La neuvaine de la Chandeleur"; "La combe de l’homme mort". Extensive foxing, owner's pencil drawings on some pages, otherwise good condition.
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Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood), three wood engravings by Gustave Doré, 1864: "En passant dans un bois elle rencontra compère le Loup"; "Le Chaperon rouge fut bien étonné de voir comment sa grand'mère était faite en son déshabillé"; "Cela n'empêche pas qu'avec ses gran dents il avait mangé une bonne grand'mère". Engraved by Adolphe Pannemaker. Le Petit Poucet (Little Thumb), one wood engraving by Gustave Doré, 1864: "Une bonne femme vint leur ouvrir". Engraved by Héliodore-Joseph Pisan. La Belle au bois dormant (Sleeping Beauty), one wood engraving by Gustave Doré, 1864: "Il marcha vers le château qu'il voyait au bout d'une grande avenue où il entra". Engraved by Héliodore-Joseph Pisan. Medium: Paper; Wood engraving. Illustrations for P.-J. Hetzel's edition of Perrault's Fairy Tales (Les Contes de Perrault) by Gustave Doré published in 1864. Size: frame: 428 x 302 mm; sheet: 280 x 231 mm; image: 194 x 244 mm. -
A two-volume set, published in Paris by P.-J. Hetzel in 1845 and 1846.
Vol. 1:
Title: LE | DIABLE A PARIS | — PARIS ET LES PARISIENS — | MŒURS ET COUTUMES, CARACTERES ET PORTRAITS DES HABITANTS DE PARIS, | TABLEAU COMPLET DE LEUR VIE PRIVEE, PUBLIQUE, POLITIQUE, | ARTISTIQUE, LITTERAIRE, INDUSTRIELLE, ETC., ETC. | TEXTE PAR MM. | GEORGE SAND — P.-J. STAHL — LEON GOZLAN — P. PASCAL — FREDERIC SOULIE — CHARLES NODIER | EUGENE BRIFFAULT — S. LAVALETTE — DE BALZAC — TAXILE DELORD — ALPHONSE KARR | MÉRY — A. JUNCETIS — GERARD DE NERVAL — ARSÈNE HOUSSAYE — ALBERT AUBERT — THÉOPHILE GAUTIER | OCTAVE FEUILLET — ALFRED DE MUSSET — FRÉDÉRIC BÉRAT | précédé d’une | HISTOIRE DE PARIS PAR THEOPHILE LAVALLÉE | ILLUSTRATIONS | LES GENS DE PARIS — SERIES DE GRAVURES AVEC LEGENDES | PAR GAVARNI | PARIS COMIQUE — VIGNETTES DE BERTALL | VUES, MONUMENTS, EDIFICES PARTICULIERS, LIEUX CÉLÈBRES ET PRINCIPAUX ASPECTS DE PARIS | PAR CHAMPIN, BERTRAND, D’AUBIGNY, FRANÇAIS. | [DEVICE] | PARIS | PUBLIÉ PAR J. HETZEL, | RUE RICHELIEU, 76 – RUE DE MÉNARS, 10. | 1845 ||
Pagination: ffl, [2 – h.t. / Paris: Typographie Lacrampe et Comp., Rue Damiette, 2 ; Papeir de la fabrique de sainte-marie] [2 – blank / frontis. ‘Diable’ with lantern standing on map of Paris] [2 – t.p. /blank] [I] II-XXXII, [1] 2-380, bfl. Sheet size: 27.5 x 17.5 cm.
Collation: 4to; A(4) – D(4), [1(4)] 2(4) – 47(4), 48(2); illustrations: frontispiece, vignette title-page, numerous text engravings and 99 plates.
Vol. 2: Title: LE | DIABLE A PARIS | — PARIS ET LES PARISIENS — | MŒURS ET COUTUMES, CARACTERES ET PORTRAITS DES HABITANTS DE PARIS, | TABLEAU COMPLET DE LEUR VIE PRIVEE, PUBLIQUE, POLITIQUE, | ARTISTIQUE, LITTERAIRE, INDUSTRIELLE, ETC., ETC. | TEXTE PAR MM. | DE BALZAC — EUGÈNE SUE — GEORGE SAND — P.-J. STAHL — ALPHONSE KARR | HENRY MONNIER — OCTAVE FEUILLET — DE STENDAHL — LEON GOZLAN — S. LAVALETTE — ARMAND MARRAST | LAURENT-JAN —ÉDOUARD OURLIAC — CHARLES DE BOIGNE — ALTAROCHE — EUG. GUINOT | JULES JANIN — EUGENE BRIFFAULT — AUGUSTE BARBIER — MERQUIS DE VARENNES — ALFRED DE MUSSET | CHARLES NODIER — FRÉDÉRIC BÉRAT — A. LEGOYT| précédé d’une | GÉOGRAPHIE DE PARIS PAR THEOPHILE LAVALLÉE | ILLUSTRATIONS | LES GENS DE PARIS — SERIES DE GRAVURES AVEC LEGENDES | PAR GAVARNI | PARIS COMIQUE — PANTHÉON DU DIABLE A PARIS PAR BERTALL | VUES, MONUMENTS, EDIFICES PARTICULIERS, LIEUX CÉLÈBRES ET PRINCIPAUX ASPECTS DE PARIS | PAR CHAMPIN, BERTRAND, D’AUBIGNY, FRANÇAIS. | [DEVICE] | PARIS | PUBLIÉ PAR J. HETZEL, | RUE RICHELIEU, 76 – RUE DE MÉNARS, 10. | 1846 || Pp. : ffl, [2 – h.t. / Paris: Typographie Lacrampe et Comp., Rue Damiette, 2 ; Papeir de la fabrique de sainte-marie] [2 – t.p. /blank] [I] II-LXXX, [1] 2-364, bfl. Sheet size: 27.5 x 17.5 cm. Collation: 4to; A(4) – I(4) – J(4), 1(4), 2(4) – 45(4), 46(2); illustrations: vignette title-page, numerous text engravings and 112 plates.Binding: [allegedly Roger de Coverly (British, 1831 — 1914)], 28.2 x 19 cm, ¾ brown calf ruled in gilt, brown marbled boards, nonpareil marbled endpapers, raised and ruled in gilt bands, floral devices and title lettering to spine. AEG. Foxing to flyleaves, tips of corners just a very little rubbed as are the glazed marbled paper boards; endpapers foxed; very occasional light scattered foxing of text.
Provenance: (1) Armorial bookplate (Ex Libris Sir John Whittaker Ellis, 1st Baronet (1829 – 1912), Lord Mayor of London 1881; (2) Bookplate Ex Libris Robert Frederick Green) dated 1909.
Reference: L. Carteret (1927) pp. 203-207: the first edition, lacking the publisher's white pictorial wrappers. -
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 [秀] 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 tsuba, Muromachi 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.
