/Collection
  • Mikhail Uspensky, Elena Varshavskaya. The netsuke and Japanese woodblock prints from the collection of S. P. Varshavsky. Printed by demand of The Hermitage Museum. Title-page (vertical bottom to top): ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ОРДЕНА ЛЕНИНА | ЭРМИТАЖ | НЭЦКЭ | И ЯПОНСКАЯ | ГРАВЮРА | из собрания | С. П. Варшавского | КАТАЛОГ ВЫСТАВКИ | — | ЛЕНИНГРАД | “ИСКУССТВО” | ЛЕНИНГРАДСКОЕ ОТДЕЛЕНИЕ | 1983 | {vignette} || Description: Softcover, pictorial wrappers, 21.5 x 14.5 cm, pp.: [1-8] 9-42 [43-51] (b/w plates unpag.) [52] 53-76 [77-95] (b/w plates unpag.) [96] (colophon); total 96 pages plus four leaves of colour plates. Catalogue:137 entries of netsuke, 69 entries of Japanese woodblock prints. Print run: 3,000 copies. Contributors: Mikhail Uspensky [Михаил Владимирович Успенский] (Russian, 1953 – 1997) Elena Varshavsky [Елена Юрьевна Варшавская (Jewish-American, b. 1952) Vladislav Sisauri [Владислав Ираклиевич Сисаури] (Russian, b. 1944) Sergei Petrovich Varshavsky [Сергей Петрович Варшавский] (Jewish-Russian, 1906 – 1980).
  • Hardcover volume, 19 x 13 cm, collated in-12mo, bound by Henri Creuzevault (signed) in full crushed brown morocco, spine with raised bands, gilt lettering “H. DE RÉGNIER | – | LA PÉCHERESSE” and “PARIS 1920” in the bottom compartment; gilt fillet to cover margin, five gilt fillets inside, marbled endpapers, bookplate of J.-P. Dutel to flyleaf, original yellow publisher’s wrappers preserved, top edge gilt, in a marbled slipcase; printed on dense wove paper (Japon). Inset: Receipt from Librairie ancienne et modern – Georges Venot (Lyon), dated April 16, 1938. Title-page / Cover: HENRI DE RÉGNIER | DE L’ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE | – | La Pécheresse | HISTOIRE D’AMOUR | {publisher’s device} | PARIS | MERCVRE DE France | XXVI, RVE DE CONDÉ, XXVI | MCMXX || Limitation: 158 copies on Japon (№№ 1-158), 95 copies on Chine (№№ 159-253), 515 copies on Hollande (№№ 254-768), 1,650 copies on vélin pur fil de Lafuma (№№ 769-2393, and 25 copies not for sale marked A-Z. This is № 75 (on Japon), a unique copy enriched with 7 original watercolours by Serge de Solomko. Collation: 3 blank flyleaves, front wrapper, π6 (1 h.t./advert., 1 t.p./limit., 1 dedication, 3), 1-206, 212, back wrapper, spine, 3 blank flyleaves, list of illustrations pasted to recto endpaper “La Pécheresse. | 7 aquarelles de Solemko (sic.) | 57, 64, 168, 256, 289, 320, 346”, seven plates bound in as per the list. Pagination: [1-5] 6-350, ils. OCLC Number / Unique Identifier: 715077259. Contributors: Henri de Régnier (French, 1864 – 1936) – author. Auguste Gilbert de Voisins (1877 – 1939) – dedicatee. Sergueï Solomko [Сергей Сергеевич Соломко, Serge de Solomko] (Russian-French, 1867 – 1928) – artist. Henri Creuzevault (French, 1905 – 1971) – bookbinder. J.-P. Dutel description: RÉGNIER, Henri de. LA PECHERESSE. Paris, Mercure de France, 1920. In-12 (18,3 x 11,4 cm) de [1] f., 350 pp., maroquin janséniste grenat, dos à 5 nerfs, filets dorés intérieurs, tête dorée, filets dorés sur les coupes, non rogné, couverture et dos conservés, étui bordé. (Creuzevault). ÉDITION ORIGINALE. Tirage : 95 ex. sur chine. 158 ex. sur japon. 515 ex. sur hollande. UN DES 158 EXEMPLAIRES SUR JAPON. EXEMPLAIRE UNIQUE ENRICHI DE 7 AQUARELLES ORIGINALES HORS-TEXTE SIGNÉES PAR SERGE DE SOLOMKO. Sergueï Sergueïevitch Solomko « Serge de Solomko », (Saint-Petersburg, 1867- Sainte Geneviève des bois, 1928) est un illustrateur, graphiste et aquarelliste russe qui vécut en partie en France. Qualifiée d'histoire d'amour, cette œuvre d'Henri de Régnier est dédiée à Gilbert de Voisins, poète et romancier, en témoignage de fraternelle amitié. Elle est placée par son auteur sous les auspices du moraliste et critique libertin Saint-Evremond dont une citation figure en exergue du livre : « Il y a des temps où l'on pleure les plaisirs perdus, des temps où l'on pleure les péchés commis. » Et l'auteur d'incipiter comme suit : « J'ai toujours été si curieux des particularités que l'on découvre au caractère des femmes que, pas une fois, je n'ai négligé de m'instruire sur le sujet. » « (...) le point où se montre le mieux et le plus ouvertement ce que la nature les a faites, est celui de l'amour. »
  • Photographic portrait of poet Joseph Brodsky, head and shoulders, three-quarters to the right, wearing glasses. Pencil-signed on the mat: 1/45 • Mikhail Lemkhin; same inscription on the back of the print, and ink stamp ©Mikhail Lemkhin. Sitter: Joseph Brodsky [Иосиф Александрович Бродский ] (Russian-American-Jewish, 1940 – 1996). Size: mat: 40.5 x 51 cm; window: 24.5 x 35 cm; print: 27.7 x 35.4 cm.
  • Small softcover volume, édition minuscule’ in-32, 13 x 8 cm, publisher’s wrappers, pp.: [1-6] (h.t., t.p., advert.), [7] 8-160 [2 table/blank], included in pagination 8 pasted etchings on India paper after Félicien Rops and one blank leaf next to plate 1; laid paper with watermarks, some pages uncut. Title-page: DOCUMENTS | POUR SERVIR A L’HISTOIRE DE NOS MŒURS | – | LES | BAS-FONDS | DE LA SOCIÉTÉ | PAR | HENRY MONNIER | AVEC | 8 dessins à la plume | de F. R. | {fleuron} | ÉDITION MINUSCULE | tirée | à 64 exemplaires. || Pencil handwriting on top: 8 gravures de Felicien Rops | 250 –, in the bottom: [1879]. Print run: 64 copies; clandestine edition. Catalogue raisonné: Vicaire V, 1019; Bory p. 100 (though here is the frontispiece for Les Bas-fonds de la société par Joseph Prudhomme [Henry Monnier], 1864, with all the sheets together; Dutel I, A-134. Ref: (1) Poulet-Malassis & ses amis № 90 [LIB-3118.2022] ; (2) Félicien Rops: L'oeuvre graphique complète. / Ouvrage établi et présenté par Jean-François Bory. Avec un texte contemporain de l'artiste par J. K. Huysmans. — Arthur Hubschmidt, 1977. [LIB-2241.2019] Contributors: Henry Monnier (French, 1799 – 1877) – author. Félicien Rops (Belgian, 1833 – 1898) – artist. Henry Kistemaeckers (Belgian, 1851 – 1934) – publisher. Auguste Poulet-Malassis (French, 1825 – 1878)
  • Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi [歌川 國芳] (1798 – 1861). Kabuki actors Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII and Arashi Rikan III as sumo wrestlers Nuregami Chōgorō (L) and Hanaregoma Chōkichi (R), respectively. Signed: Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga (一勇斎 國芳 画) in a double gourd-shaped cartouche with Yoshi Kiri seal. Publisher: No seal. Date seal and double nanushi censor seal: Mera & Watanabe, 1852. Media: Fan print (uchiwa-e, 団扇絵), 231 x 295 mm. Theme: Nine-act drama (11 scenes) Futatsu Chōchō Kuruwa Nikki [双蝶々曲輪日記] (A Diary of Two Butterflies in the Pleasure Quarters) written by Takeda Izumo II, Namiki Senryū I, Miyoshi Shōraku (7/1749) as puppet play Bunraku [文楽], adopted for Kabuki theatre by Arashi San'emon IV. “The sumo wrestler Nuregami Chōgorō is trying to ransom the courtesan Azuma for Yogoro, in whose debt he stands. Hiraoka Goemon, who is at odds with Yogorō and Azuma, is the patron of the amateur wrestler Hanaregoma Chōkichi. Chōgorō purposely loses to Chōkichi and then asks the latter to stop Goemon's ransoming of Azuma; Chōkichi refuses, however, and they quarrel. Admonished for his dissipation by his sister Oseki, Chōkichi is going to commit ritual suicide (seppuku) as an apology for his behavior, but Chōgorō, who happens along just then, prevents him. The two men swear blood brotherhood. […]  The confrontation between Chōgorō and Chōkichi in the Sumōba scene, acted in the exaggerated style called aragoto, is a major highlight of the work. The scene in Yohei's home, known as Hikimado, presents the unfolding of Kabuki's eternal conflict between duty and feelings, here represented by the act of opening the skylight (hikimado) to which Chōgorō is tied”. [Samuel L. Leiter. Kabuki Encyclopedia: an English-language adaptation of Kabuki Jiten. — Westport, CT; London: Greenwood Press, 1979, pp. 70-71]. See also James R. Brandon and Samuel L. Leiter. Kabuki plays on stage, vol. 1, pp. 234-258. — Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2002. Actors: Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII [市川団十郎] (Japanese, 1823 – 1854); other names: Ichikawa Ebizō VI, Ichikawa Shinnosuke II. Arashi Rikan III [嵐璃寛] (Japanese, 1812 – 1863); other names Arashi Tokusaburō III, Arashi Kicchō I, Onoe Wasaburō I. Another print in this collection with the same theme: SVJP-0331.2020. Reference images:    
  • Hardcover volume, 20.8 x 13.8 cm, bound in black buckram with gilt lettering to front cover and spine; pp.: [2] 3-112. Portrait of young Anatoly Koni to fep verso. Print run: 5,000 copies. About the right of the defence of necessity – a reprint of the first work of distinguished Russian jurist Anatoly Koni, originally published in «Приложение к Университетским известиям» in 1865 and Кони А. О правѣ необходимой обороны. Рассужденiе. - М.: В Университетской Типографiи, 1866.
  • Hardcover, 20 x 14 cm, owner’s later green buckram with the original wrapper pasted to front board: wood engraving printed in green (egg and dart border with “1925” on top and “ИЗД-ВО «БЫЛОЕ» ЛЕНИНГРАД” in the bottom, inside the border a pictorial frame, depicting chains, manacles, and axes with red and green lettering inside: “ЦАРСКАЯ РОССИЯ (framed) | РУССКИЙ | РОКАМБОЛЬ | ПРИКЛЮЧЕНИЯ | МАНАСЕВИЧА-МАНУЙЛОВА | {fleuron}”; in the bottom corners of the frame monogrammed letters “В” and “Б”, for Вениамин Белкин (Veniamin Belkin).  Pagination: [1-4] 5-239 [240]; collated 8vo: [1]-158, total 120 leaves. Title-page: — | К. Бецкий и П. Павлов | РУССКИЙ РОКАМБОЛЬ  | (ПРИКЛЮЧЕНИЯ И. Ф. МАНАСЕВИЧА-МАНУЙЛОВА) | — | ИЗДАТЕЛЬСТВО «БЫЛОЕ» | ЛЕНИНГРАД • 1925 || Print run: 5,000 copies. Contributors: Вениамин Павлович Белкин [Veniamin Belkin] (Russian, 1884 – 1951) – artist of the cover. К. Бецкий (pseudonym), real name Иосиф Яковлевич Кобецкий (Jewish-Russian, ? – ?) – author. П. Павлов (pseudonym),  real name Павел Елисеевич Щеголев (Russian, 1877 – 1931) – author. Иван Фёдорович Манасевич-Мануйлов [Исаак Тодресович Манасевич, Ivan Manassievitch-Manouïlov] (Jewish-Russian, 1869/71—1918) – character.  
  • 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. 
  • Colour (tone) lithography, image 268 x 410 mm, sheet 317 x 470 mm; signed on bottom-left of the image “Pelikan 1905”, and pencil ms inscription: E. Pelikan to the lower-right corner of the sheet. Contributor: Emilie Mediz-Pelikan (Austrian, 1861 – 1908) – artist. Seller's description: Austrian-German painter and graphic artist. Emilie Mediz-Pelikan was born in Vöcklabruck in 1861. She studied at the Vienna Academy and followed her teacher Albert Zimmermann to Salzburg and in 1885 to Munich. In 1891 she married the painter and graphic artist Karl Mediz (1868 - 1945), with whom she lived in Vienna and from 1894 in Dresden. She was in contact with the Dachau Artists' Colony and went on study trips to Paris, Belgium, Hungary and Italy. In the Dachau artists' colony she was friends with Adolf Hölzel and Fritz von Uhde. In 1889 and 1890 she spent time in Paris and in the Belgian artists' colony Knokke. In 1898 she was represented at the first art exhibition of the Vienna Secession, and in 1901 at the International Art Exhibition in Dresden. In 1903 she and her husband had a group exhibition, at the Hagenbund in Vienna. In 1904, she showed graphic works at the Dresden royal court art dealer Richter, and in 1905 and 1906 she exhibited at the Berlin Künstlerhaus. It was not until around 1900 that she achieved her artistic breakthrough with her landscape paintings. Since the estate of the artist, who died prematurely in Dresden in 1908, was lost in the former GDR until the 1980s, it was quite late that the artist was rediscovered and revalued both in Austrian art history and on the art market. In 1986, the first major exhibitions took place at the Upper Austrian State Museum and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, followed by numerous smaller exhibitions in private galleries in Vienna, Linz and Munich. The artist received recognition during her lifetime from numerous prominent fellow painters as well as from the art critic Ludwig Hevesi. Together with Tina Blau, Herbert Boeckl, Marie Egner, Theodor von Hörmann, Franz Jaschke, Eugen Jettel, Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel, Rudolf Junk, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Johann Victor Krämer, Heinrich Kühn, Carl Moll, Rudolf Quittner, Rudolf Ribarz, Emil Jakob Schindler, Max Suppantschitsch, Max Weiler, Olga Wisinger-Florian and Alfred Zoff, she was a protagonist of the reception of Impressionism in Austria. This style went down in Austrian art history under the term "Stimmungsimpressionismus".
  • 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.  
  • Hardcover, 333 x 247 mm, black cloth with gilt facsimile to front board and gilt lettering to spine, aubergine dust jacket with white lettering and red facsimile over black panel to front and back, crimson endpapers, laid paper, unpaginated; pp.: [4] h.t./blank, t.p./imprint, [2] text by John Hollander, 61 leaves of plates; originally published in 1969 by Rhinoceros Press, New York, as a limited-edition portfolio with slipcase. Title-page: Fornicon | (in frame) BY TOMI UNGERER | GROVE PRESS  NEW YORK || Jean-Thomas [Tomi] Ungerer (French,1931 – 2019) John Hollander (American, 1929 – 2013)
  • Исэ-Моногатари. Лирическая повесть древней Японии. Перевод и предисловие Н. Конрад. Гос. изд-во "Всемирная литература", 1923.

    Перевод на русский язык (с японского издания 1912 года) был выполнен выдающимся советским востоковедом Н И. Конрадом и опубликован в 1923 году издательством «Всемирная литература». Неполностью разрезана, залита по краям, надрывы обложки.

  • 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.  
  • Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I [歌川豊国] (1769–1825). Title: 「しなのやおこん 瀬川菊之丞」「帯屋長右衛門 嵐雛助」 Kabuki play: Katsuragawa Renri no Shigarami [桂川連理柵]. According to Waseda University Cultural Resource Database, the play was performed at Ichimura-za (Edo) on the 2nd month of Kansei 12 (year 1800) under the title 楼門五山桐 さんもんごさんのきり. Publisher: Nishimuraya Yohachi [西村屋与八] (Japanese, c. 1751 – 1869)., Play by Suga Sensuke [菅専助] (ca. 1728 – 1791) in two acts. First performed at Kita Horie-za in Osaka in October 1776. Based on a real incident occurring sometime in the Kyōhō era (1716-35), this story was first dramatized in 1761. The first Kabuki drama to stem from this play was in 1777 at Osaka's Araki-za. Obiya Chōemon, a married obi merchant (sitting with abacus) in his forties, meets his neighbour's daughter Ohan (standing behind Obiya), who is young enough to be his daughter, at an inn in Ishibe; the two fall in love and pledged their troth. Ohan becomes pregnant. After a series of misfortunes, the lovers rush to Katsuragawa (Katsura River), where they drown themselves.

    Segawa Kikunojō III (Japanese, 1751 – 1810); other names: Segawa Senjo, Segawa Rokō III, Segawa Tomisaburō I, Ichiyama Tomisaburō, Ichiyama Shichinosuke. The actor held the name of Segawa Kikunojō III from the 11th lunar month of 1774 to the 7th lunar month of 1801. He surpassed all the actors of his time in both female and male roles, especially in the former, and achieved tremendous public acclaim.

    Arashi Hinasuke II [嵐雛助] (Japanese, c. 1774 – 1801); other names: Nakamura Jūzō III, Kanō Hidenosuke I, Arashi Hidenosuke I. The actor held the name of Arashi Hinasuke II from the 1st lunar month of 1794 to the 2nd lunar month of 1801. Hi died in Edo on the 4th day of the 2nd lunar month of 1801. For the same characters illustrated by Utagawa Kuniyoshi see SVJP-0333.2021. Sources:
    1. Historical Dictionary of Japanese Traditional Theatre By Samuel L. Leiter. Second edition, 2014.
    2. Kabuki Encyclopedia. An English-Langauge Adaptation of Kabuki Jiten. Samuel L. Leiter. Greenwood Press, 1979.
    3. http://www.kabuki21.com/
    4. Waseda University Cultural Resource Database
  • Iron tsuba of round form with design of iris and snowflake in openwork (ko-sukashi or small cut-outs) outlined with brass wire. Three concentric rows of brass dots (ten-zōgan), with a brass circular line inside the innermost row of dots (missing on the back). Hitsu-ana is not outlined with brass wire, which let us suppose that it was cut out at a later date. Iron and brass. Ko-sukashi and ten-zōgan technique. Mid Muromachi period (1454-1513). Height: 74.0 mm, Width: 73.6 mm, Thickness: 3.0 mm.

    NBTHK certification of 1968: "Kicho". Condition is relatively poor: rust, missing inlay, scratches.

    While representation of the snowflake is rather standard, the meaning of the other cut-out design was initially less clear. Similar symbol was found at (1) "Kokusai Tosogu Kai, International Convention & Exhibition, September 24-25, 2005, The Frazier Historical Arms Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, USA"; on page 21 there is a photograph J-6 of a ko-tosho tsuba with "iris theme openwork"; (2) Japanese Swords and Tsuba from the Professor A. Z. Freeman and the Phyllis Sharpe Memorial collections. Sotheby's, London, Thursday 10 April 1997; page 11, lot 6 - a ko-katchushi tsuba of early Muromachi period fith "simple design of stylized iris". In both sources the symbol is explained as 'iris" (kakitsubata).

    Freeman and Sharpe collections. Sotheby's, 1997.

    Kokusai Tosogu Kai, September 24-25, 2005.

  • Round tsuba of iron; well forged thin plate decorated with a rudder (kaji) and an oar, or paddle (kai) with a water drop, executed in a combination of negative (in-sukashi) and positive (ji-sukashi) openwork. It may be Ko-Tōshō (old Tōshō) or just Tōshō school, without a 'Ko'. The characteristics of the plate point toward an older piece, however the combination of negative and positive silhouettes pulls the date of manufacture in an opposite direction. Muromachi period. Height: 90.0 mm. Width: 89.0 mm. Rim thickness: 2.1 mm. Center thickness: 2.3 mm. Nakago-ana: height = 29 mm, width = 8.8 mm. A rudder and an oar design is classified by John W. Dower as "Sailing vessels and gear": "Unlike many other motifs, sailing vessels and sailing gear failed to collect an interesting lore or to develop levels of meaning." Merrily Baird does not say anything about these symbols. Yuzuri Okada says: "Ships, sails, rudders, etc. also supply motive of the same class as wheels." He does not provide us with the description of the motive supplied by the wheel. The same motif is used on Ōnin tsuba in this collection:
  • Iron tsuba of round form with slanting rays of light (shakoh) Christian motif (Jesuit's IHS symbol) in openwork (sukashi). Traditional description of this kind of design is called "tokei", or "clock gear". Edo period.

    Size: 83.4 x 83.1 x 4.4 mm

    Signed Bushū-jū Ujishige saku (武州住氏重作) [Markus Sesko]. Ujishige (died 1677), 3rd generation of the Katsuki-Gondayu line; 1st gen. Ujiie came from Kyoto to Kaga to work for the Maeda family. There was another Ujishige, 4th generation Kaneko (?), who died in 1867 [M. Sesko, Genealogies...], but this tsuba looks a bit earlier than that. This particular Ujishige states in his signature that he is from Bushū, or Musashi Province, modern Tokyo Metropolis. He might have moved from Bushū to Kaga, of course. There is no artist with the name Ujishige in Bushū-Ito School anyway.

    For information regarding shakoh tsuba see article 'Kirishitan Ikenie Tsuba by Fred Geyer at Kokusai Tosogu Kai; The 2nd International Convention & Exhibition, October 18-23, 2006, pp. 84-91.  
  • 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.