/Collection
  • Two softcover volumes bound in one, 28.7 x 20.5 cm, quarter blue morocco over marbled boards, raised bands and gilt lettering to spine, top margin gilt, other untrimmed, marbled endpapers, original covers and spines preserved; 20 full-page etchings by Louis Berthommé Saint-André, incl. 2 frontispieces; vignettes, initials, head- and tailpieces in pink after André Collot. Title-page: TROIS FILLES | DE | LEUR MÈRE | {vignette} | TOME PREMIER (SECOND) | AUX DÉPENS D'UN AMATEUR | ET POUR SES AMIS || Collation: v.1 2ffl, front cover, [1-8] 2 blanks, h.t., t.p., pp. 9-94 [95, 96]; v.2 back cover, spine, front cover, 2 blanks, h.t., t.p., 97-201 [202-4] back cover, spine, 2ffl; plus 20 plates extraneous to collation. Limitation: A print run of 150 copies, of which this is copy № 76. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel III № 2521. As per Dutel, pp: 96+106 (conforms), and the year of 2 vol. publication 1933; however, the etchings are dated to 1926 by many. Contributors: Pierre Louÿs (French, 1870 – 1925) – author. Louis Berthommé Saint-André (French, 1905 – 1977) – artist. André Collot (French, 1897 – 1976) – artist.
  • Paperback, 20 x 12.5 cm, grey pictorial wrappers, lettering to front, back, and spine; pp.: [1-2] 3-127 [128]. Title-page: ВЕНЕДИКТ | EРОФЕЕВ | in grid: МОСКВА  Р/6520  6308  6494 | {text in grid} | ПЕТУШКИ  {publisher’s device}  МОСКВА / «ИНТЕРБУК» / 1990 || Print-run: 250,000. Contributors: Венедикт Васильевич Ерофеев [Venedikt Yerofeyev] (Russian, 1938 – 1990) – author.
  • 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), 238 x 304 mm. Title: Saiko (West River) [西江]; 西江 means the Xi River in China. Series: Chronicles of Elegant Women [風雅女史傳] (Fūga joshiden). Combined date seal and kiwame censor seal: Ansei 6 (1859). Other prints from the same series in this collection: SVJP-0216.2016 — Princess Sotoori:

    SVJP-0343.2021 — Tamagiku:

  • Four chromolithographic plates, each sheet 180 x 150 mm; image 16 x 12.5 cm after Feodor Rojankovsky, signed “Rojan”, titles printed on the back on red (à la chasse), blue (en voyage), green (aux courses), and yellow (depuis | 1865 les plus | jolis trousseaux | ont été créés par | LA GRANDE | MAISON DE | BLANC | place de l’opera | Paris | NICE CANNES DEAUVILLE LONDRES) background. Contributors: Feodor Rojankovsky [Rojan, Фёдор Степанович Рожанковский] (Russian-American, 1891 – 1970) – artist.
  • Hand-coloured woodcut on wove paper, 268 x 381 mm, vertical centerfold. On reverse: black ink stamp “5324”. Top centre: "PRISE DE SAARBRUCK"; left: "PELLERIN & Cie, imp. -édit."; right: "IMAGERIE D'EPINAL, № 134." Under the frame text starts with « La cri de guerre a retenti. La France a été forcée de tirer l’épée pour arrêter… ».[...] Prise de Saarbruck. | Depuis quelques jours, l’armée française occupait la frontière française en face de la Prusse.... Jean Charles Pellerin (French, 1756 – 1836) – publisher/printer. The Battle of Saarbrücken (2 August 1870).
  • Hardcover volume, 38.3 x 26 x 3.8 cm, pictorial boards, lettering to front cover and spine, pp.: [1-6] 7-421 [3], ils. Title-page: Cesare Leonardi Franca Stagi | THE ARCHITECTURE | OF TREES | Introduction to the new edition | ANDREA CAVANI, GIULIO ORSINI | Translated from the Italian by | NATALIE DANFORD | Princeton Architectural Press | New York || Cesare Leonardi (Italian, 1935 – 2021) Franca Stagi (Italian, 1937 – 2008) Natalie Danford (American, b. 1968)
  • Softcover, 257 x 168 mm, publisher’s cream French flapped wrappers with red lettering to front in a beige double slipcase, printed on wove paper watermarked “Marais” in italic script; edges untrimmed; pp.: [8] [2] [1] 2-130 [131] [3]; collated 4to as 184, 72 leaves incl. those in the wrappers, plus 9 photomechanical stencil-coloured plates extraneous to collation and 9 b/w headpieces (in-text etchings) after anonymous artist. According to the seller and J.-P. Dutel: “In-8 of 130 pages... Illustrated with 10 full-page in colour and some headbands. Limited edition of 500 copies on vélin du Marais". Title-page (red and black): GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE | LES | ONZE MILLE VERGES | OU | LES AMOURS D'UN HOSPODAR | BRUXELLES | 1942 || Limitation: Il a été tiré de cet ouvrage réservé uniquement aux souscripteurs particuliers 500 exemplaires tous sur vélin du marais. Exemplaire n° 147. Edition: The clandestine edition on vélin de Marais paper limited to 500 copies for subscribers only; this copy is № 147. Catalogue raisonné: Dutel III № 2109. In my copy, similarly to the one of STEVE M., it is only 9 colour plates, while Dutel sites 10. Author: Guillaume Apollinaire (French, 1880 – 1918). Micro photo of a colour plate: Micro photo of an etching:
  • A yamagane  (unrefined copper) ko-kinko tsuba of slightly elongated round form with design of wisteria carved in sculptural relief (nikubori). Copper sekigane. Unsigned. Muromachi period, likely the 16th century.

    Size: 74.3 x 71.8 x 3.2 mm.

    NBTHK certificate №4003986: Hozon (worthy preservation). In custom wooden box.
  • Томас Мор. Золотая книга столь же полезная, как забавная, о наилучшем устройстве государства и о новом острове Утопии. Перевод и комментарии А. И. Малеина. Предисловие В. П. Волгина. Academia, 1935. Москва - Ленинград. Гравюры на дереве и рисунок переплета М. В. Моторина.

  • Kitagawa Utamaro (喜多川 歌麿; c. 1753 – 31 October 1806). Act III (Sandanme), from the series The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers (Chûshingura). Publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudô). About 1801–02 (Kyôwa 1–2) Vertical ôban; 39.3 x 26 cm (15 1/2 x 10 1/4 in.). Reference: MFA ACCESSION NUMBER 11.14441 Ukiyo-e shûka 3 (1978), list #368.3; Shibui, Ukiyo-e zuten Utamaro (1964), 165.1.3; the series: Asano and Clark 1995, #s 383-5.
  • Iron tsuba of round form decorated with floral motif in brass or copper inlay (suemon-zōgan) and family crests (mon) in small openwork (ko-sukashi). Occasional brass dots or nail heads in brass ten-zōgan. Sukashi elements outlined with inlaid brass wire. Seppa-dai outlined with rope-shaped brass wire (nawame-zōgan); kozuka-hitsu-ana outlined with scalloped brass wire. Ōnin school. Mid to late Muromachi period, 15th or 16th century. Height: 88.9 mm; Width: 88.5 mm; Thickness at seppa-dai: 2.9 mm. Family crests (mon) in openwork: cherry blossom (sakura) - kamon of Sakurai and Yoshino clans, four-section lozenge (waribishi) - kamon of Takeda clan, the seven stars of the big dipper (maru ni nanatsuboshi) - kamon of Chiba clan, two encircled stripes (futatsubiki) - kamon of Ashikaga clan. Brass inlays represent flowers, branches and leaves, as well as halved plum blossom, halved chrysanthemum blossom, cloud, and chrysanthemum-on-water symbol - the mon of Kusunoki Masashige. Abundance of family crests of so many powerful warrior clans symbolizes heritage. "The brass trim around the kozuka hitsu-ana andd the seppa-dai are characteristics of Onin work" [Japanese sword guards. Onin - Heianjo - Yoshiro. Gary D. Murtha. GDM Publications, 2016; p. 27.]
  • 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.

  • Print by Katsukawa Shun'ei that presumably depicts a kabuki actor Ichikawa Monnosuke II. I was not able to find any reference of the image. Size: Hosoban. SOLD  
  • Iron tsuba of round form with two overlapping triangles (uroko) motif  in openwork (sukashi). Triangle patterns usually associate with 'fish scale', mon of Hojo family (and others). Edo period or later.

    Size: 71.4 x 70.2 x 5.2 mm.

    An association with the Star of David is doubtful if not impossible.  
  • Kitagawa Tsukimaro (Kikumaro): 喜多川 月麿, fl. c. 1794–1836.

    Mother is playing with her child: they left playing with shadow lantern for freeing a turtle (Hojo-e, or "Rite for the Release of Living Beings").

    Signed: Tsukimaro hitsu (月麿筆); Publisher's mark; censor's seal: Kiwame + Yamaguchiya Tôbei gyōji seal (1811-14).

     
  • 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.
  • 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.  
  • Fables de La Fontaine / édition illustrée par J. J. Grandville (in 2 volumes). – Paris: H. Fournier Ainé, Perronin, 1838. Imp. H. Fournier et Ce, 14 rue de Seine (Premier Tirage). Vol 1: [2 - ht, imprim.] [2 - blank with handwritten inscription, frontis.] [2 - t.p., blank], [ [i] ii-xxviii - épitre, préface, [2 - plate 'fables', [1] 2 - dedication, [3, 4 - pltate: livre 1, blank] [5, 6 - plate: blank, cigale] [7] 8 - fab.1 (the subsequent plates are not paginated) - 292. (245-246 - Avertissement), (247-248 - A mamdam de Montespan); Wood engravings: frontispiece + half-title Fables + 7 running half-titles Livres des Fables + 72 plates. Vol. 2: [2 - ht, imprim.] [2 - t.p., blank] [1, 2 - plate 'livre 8', blank] [3] 4-312 (191-192 épilogue), (195-196 Au duc de Bourgogne), (268 - fin des fables), (269-296 Philemon et Baucis | D. O. M. | La Martone Déphèse | Belphegor), (297 -308 notice), (309-312 table); Wood engravings: 5 running half-titles Livres des Fables + 1 half-title Philemon et Baucis  + 48 plates. Size: 8vo, 23.2 x 15 cm. Binding: Full tree-calf, flat spine stamped with gilt, red and brown labels with gilt lettering, marbled endpapers. Handwritten nut ink inscription to blank recto of frontispiece: the history of Millet-Fontaine family (provenance?) There were two print-runs in the year 1838. According to Léopold Carteret (Le trésor du bibliophile. Epoque romantique. 1801-1875 / Livres illustrés du XIXe siècle. – Paris: L. Carteret; imprim. Lahure, 1927, pp. 357-9), the first run (Premier Tirage) published by H. Fournier and Perrotin, while the Second Tirage by H. Fournier Ainé. Though, the initial cap character "N" at p. xiii (vie d'Ésope) in this copy is formed by 'faite de lignes bouclées' as in the first print-run, rather than by 'petits carreaux noirs et blances' as in the second. We can conclude with confidence that this copy belongs to Premier Tirage. Wood engravings (135 plates, including frontispiece, and numerous headpieces and initial letters) were cut by the following artists (the first number is the number of the chapter ('livre'), the second – the number of the fable within the 'livre': Wood engravers: John Bastin, (British, fl. 1840 – 1850): 6-6, 7-13, and 8-9. Alexandre Belhatte (French, born in 1811): 3-11 and chapter title pages to 'livres' 6, 11, 12, headpices on p. 117 in vol. 2, and 'Philemon et Baucis' section title page. J. Constantine Beneworth (active France, 19th century): 1-6. Louis-Henri Brévière (French, 1797 – 1869): 1-10, 2-7, 6-10, 6-21, 7-4, 8-10, 8-27, 9-3, 10-4, 12-11, frontispice, together with François-Louis Français (French, 1814–1897), and 'Fin des fables' tailpiece. Brévière et Hébert: Louis-Henri Brévière (French, 1797 – 1869) and César-Auguste Hébert (French, active 19th century): 1-1, 1-2, 1-13, 1-18, 2-2, 2-11, 3-1, 3-3, 3-4, 3-18, 4-20, 4-21, 4-22, 5-5, 5-20, 6-2, 6-8, 7-3, 8-7, 8-12, 8-14, 8-17, 9-14, 10-6, 10-16, 11-6, 12-4, 12-25. Joseph-Hippolyte-Jules Caqué (French, 1814 – 1885): 7-11 and headpieces on p. 251 in vol. 1 and on p. 197 in vol. 2. Prosper-Adolphe-Léon Cherrier (French, born 1806): 8-6. Henry Isidore Chevauchet (French, fl. 1837 – 1850): 1-19, 2-4, and 4-5. Louis Dujardin (French, 1808 – 1859): 10-9. Pierre-François Godard (French, 1768 – 1838): 1-5, 1-16, 5-2, and 10-11. Charles David Laing (British, fl. 1836 – 1853): 7-9. Lacoste père et fils aîné et Auguste-Alexandre Guillaumot (French, 1815 – 1892): 1-4, 1-20, 9-17, and 11-5. Laisné (Alfred, Adèle, and Aglaé) (French, active 1835–1868): 5-8, 6-5, 6-17, 8-2, 8-15, 9-9, 9-10, 11-1, 11-8, 12-10. (Alfred, Adèle, and Aglaé) Laisné (French, active 1835–1868): 5-8, 6-5, 6-17, 8-2, 8-15, 9-9, 9-10, 11-1, 11-8, 12-10. Théodore Maurisset (French, fl. 1834 – 1859): 2-14 and 6-13. Antoine-Alphée Piaud (French, 1813 – 1867): 1-17, 2-9, 2-16, 4-1, 4-4, 5-15, 5-17, 5-18, 5-21, 8-22, 8-23, 8-25, 9-19, 10-13, 11-3, 11-9, 12-13, 12-15, 12-21, three 'livres': 3, 9, 10, and headpiece on p. 71 in vol. 2. Roux-Jourdain: Two 'livre' title pages, 1 and 2. John Orrin Smith (British, 1799 – 1843): 2-13, 2-18, 3-9, 3-14, 4-9, and 4-14.L. Chauchefoin (French): 2-3 and 5.13. Matthew Urlwin Sears (British, 1799 – 1870): 10-1 and 12-9. Monogram TM or MT (possibly for Théodore Maurisset): 6-16 and 10-3. Monogram GO–> (possibly for Godard) : 5-3, 7-1, and 9-5. Monogram B and BV: 4-11, 12-6, 'livre' 4, and headpieces on p. 1 in vol. 1 and on p. 167 in vol. 2. Unsigned or with an illegible signature: "fables' section title, 1-3, 1-9, 3-5, 3-8, 4-15, 4-18, 5-10, 7-7, 7-16, 9-2, 9-4, 12-2, 12-3, 12-17, and two 'livre' title pages, 5 and 8. Little is know about Matthew Urlwin Sears. He was a wood engraver of good reputation who is known to have worked in London in the early 1820s, Paris and Leipzig. Listed as "wood engraver" on records of the UK Printing Historical Society. Work The British Museum owns three of his earliest published works, engravings for Northcote's Fables (1828). He authored "Specimen of stereotype ornaments, 1825" which was reprinted as a facsimile in 1990 by the Printing Historical Society (London), with a foreword by James Mosley. He is mentioned by Pierre Gusman in "La Gravure sur Bois en France" (Paris, 1929). Laurent's Histoire de l'Empereur Napoleon, (1839) is one of many publications on which both Sears and his partner John Quartly worked, as well as numerous other engravers. His work appeared in "Aunt Effie's Rhymes" (1852) and "Uncle Tom's Cabin", by Harriet Beech Stowe (Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1853) [Claire-Juliette Beale, December 2009].