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Nevers faience footed plate with a hunter and his dog on a mound, in blue over white. Dimensions: Diameter 22.3 cm; H: 3.5 cm. Seller's description: Plat rond en faïence à décor en camaïeu bleu d'un personnage et son chien sur un tertre feuillagé dans un médaillon, frise d'entrelacs. Fin XVIIème. -
Title: John Carter's | ABC | for book collectors | Ninth Edition | Nicolas Barker & Simran Thadani | {publisher’s device} | Oak Knoll Press | New Castle, Delaware | 2016 | [TITLE-PAGE] || Pagination: [1-6] 7-263 [264]. Binding: 21 x 13.5 cm; black cloth, silver lettering to spine, pictorial dust jacket. Carter, John (British, 1905 – 1975) – author. Barker, Nicolas (British, b. 1932) – author Thadani, Simran – author -
Title-page (red and black): RESTIF DE LA BRETONNE | LES | FAIBLESSES | D'UNE | JOLIE FEMME | ILLUSTRATIONS EN COULEURS | DE | RAOUL SERRES | {VIGNETTE} | EDMOND VAIREL, ÉDITEUR | PARIS || Description: 25.8 x 17 cm, French flapped wrappers lettered in red and black “LES | FAIBLESSES | D'UNE | JOLIE FEMME” in a 26 x 18 cm tan cloth double slipcase, [1-14] 15-175 [176] [8], collated in-8vo, with 25 colour in-text woodcut vignettes and two tailpieces at the end of each chapter, by Gérard Angiolini after watercolours by Raoul Serres. Published: April 18, 1951, in Paris. Edition: 1st thus, limited edition of 1,025 copies, of which this is № 904 of a common print run on Vélin de Rives paper (numbered 101-1,000). Contributors: Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne [Nicolas-Edme Rétif] (French, 1734 – 1806) – author. Raoul Serres [Schem] (French, 1881 – 1971) – artist. Gérard Angiolini (French, fl. 1946 – 1957) – engraver. Imprimerie Coulouma (Argenteuil), Robert Coulouma (French, 1887-1976) – printer. Edmond Vairel (French, 18… – 19...) – publisher, colourist. -
Title: NIEUWE KAART | der platte Grond van de Stad | PARYS | en derzelver Voorsteden. | Met aanwyzing van de Kwartieren, Staaten, | Markten, Pleinen, Paleizen, Abtyden, Kerken, | Kloosters en andere voornaame Gebouwen. | Na het Origineel van | M. DE LA GRIVE. | Te Amsterdam by | I. Tirion. | 1756. ||
Author : Jean Delagrive (French, 1689-1757)
Publisher: Isaak Tirion (Dutch, 1705 – 1765)
Publication date: 1756.
Dimensions: Sheet: 42.5 x 53.8 cm; Image: 30.7 x 37.7 cm.
Plate № 59 from Beknopte Atlas van omtrent honderd platte gronden der voornaamste vestingen, kasteelen en Steden van Europa. -
Hardcover volume, 35 x 27 cm, bound in grey cloth, blind stamped characters to front, brown characters to spine, in a slipcase, the outer case missing, pp.: [4] [1] 2-116 (plates with photographs of 202 items), [2] 119-154 [4]. Ninsei [仁清] and Kenzan [乾山] ceramics produced by Ninsei Nonomura [野々村仁清] (Japanese, c. 1640 – c. 1690) and Ogata Kenzan [尾形 乾山] (Japanese, 1663 – 1743), respectively. 日本の陶磁 – Japanese ceramics, series title. Contributors: Yasunari Kawabata [川端 康成] (Japanese, 1924 – 1972) – author. Tetsuzo Tanikawa [谷川 徹三] (Japanese, 1895 – 1989) – author. Seizo Hayashiya [林屋晴三] (Japanese, 1928 – 2017) – editor. Chūōkōron-sha [中央公論社] – publisher. -
Iron tsuba of quatrefoil form with design of bamboo stems and leaves, and a plank bridge in openwork (sukashi). Hitsu-ana of irregular form. Iron with smooth chocolate patina. Copper and shakudō sekigane. This piece is illustrated in Sasano: Japanese Sword Guard Masterpieces from the Sasano Collection, 1994 on page 295 under № 254 with the following description:Nishigaki. First generation Kanshiro (died in the sixth year of Genroku, 1693, at the age of 81). Sukashi design: Bamboo (take). Early Edo period, late 17th century (Kanbun / Enppo era). Height: 72.6 mm; Width: 71.5 mm; Rim thickness: .6 mm; Centre thickness: 5.1 mm. Rounded rim. The shape of this sword guard is a quatrefoil and the design is arranged in the form of a saddle flap. Two bamboo trunks with leaves comprise the design. Calm, soothing and sophisticated are the features of this artist in his later years. Such characteristics may remind one of the work of the first Hikozo.
Provenance: Sasano Masayuki collection, № 254. What is interesting, and what had been found by Bruce Kirkpatrick, is that in the earlier photograph of the same piece ['Sukashi tsuba - bushido no bi' by Sasano Masayuki, photography by Fujimoto Shihara, 1972 (in Japanese), page 245, №201] we clearly see kebori - linear carving that decorates the bamboo leaves and the planks of the bridge. The said kebori have totally disappeared between 1972 and 1994. The tsuba became absolutely flat! Now we can only speculate about the reasons for such cruel treatment of the artistically and historically important item.
Sukashi tsuba - bushido no bi. Author: Sasano Masayuki, photography: Fujimoto Shihara, 1972 (in Japanese). Page 245, №201.
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Iron tsuba of quatrefoil form with design of bamboo stems and leaves in openwork (sukashi) decorated with carving (kebori) . Copper sekigane. Early Edo period, late 17th century (Kanbun / Enppo era). First generation Kanshiro of Nishigaki school in Higo Province died in the sixth year of Genroku, 1693, at the age of 81). Height: 74.4 mm; Width: 74.2 mm; Centre thickness: 4.9 mm. Rounded rim. The design was quite popular among the Higo masters.
Kanshiro III, early 18th century (Sasano 1994 №267)
Matashichi I, late 17th century (Sasano 1994 №270)
The design of my tsuba closely resembles the one at the last example (Sasano 1994 №280), however, the form (mine is quatrefoil) and the execution (strength) are very different, which result in a very different spirit of my piece.
Shigemitsu II, early 18th century (Sasano 1994 №280)
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Iron tsuba of oval form with design of stylized paulownia (nage-giri) in openwork (sukashi). Leaf veins carved in kebori technique. Rounded rim. Copper sekigane. Unsigned. Attributed to Kanshirō, third generation Nishigaki (1680-1761). Edo period: Early 18th century (Kyoho / Genbun era). Size: Height: 77.8 mm. Width: 71.9 mm. Rim thickness: 5.9 mm. Center thickness: 5.0 mm. Provenance: Sasano Masayuki Collection, № 264: "Nishigaki. Third generation Kanshiro (died in in the eleventh year of Hohreki, 1761 at the age of eighty-two). This oblong shape appears a little amateurish at first, however, it was done intentionally to add flavor to to the design. The neat composition is a feature of the third Kanshiro." -
Iron tsuba of mokko form decorated with encircled family crests in low relief carving; niku from 3.0 mm in the centre to 4.0 mm at rim and full 1 mm raised uchikaeshi-mimi. Nobuie [信家] signature (hanare-mei) to the left of nakago-ana; on the reverse, to the right of nakago-ana, the inscription reads “62”, which may be how old the master was at the age of making the tsuba. Pewter or lead plugged hitsuana. In a wooden box, in a custom pouch. Size: H: 80 mm, W: 75, Th(c): 3.1 mm, Th(r): 4.0 mm Weight: 103.5 gSigned: Nobuie [信家] / 62
Probably the work of Shodai Nobuie (c. 1580).
Tokubetsu hozon certificate № 2002993 of the N.B.T.H.K., dated January 15, 2016. NOBUIE TSUBA by Steve Waszak The iron tsuba made by the two early Nobuie masters are regarded as the greatest sword guards ever made across hundreds of years of Japanese history. Only a small handful of other smiths' names are even mentioned in the same breath as that of Nobuie. Despite the well-deserved fame of the Nobuie name, virtually nothing is known with certainty about the lives of the two men who made the pieces carrying this name. They are thought to have been men of Owari Province, with the Nidai Nobuie also spending time in Aki Province at the end of the Momoyama Period. Two Nobuie tsubako are recognized. The man whom most consider to have been the Shodai signed his sword guards with finer and more elegantly inscribed characters than the smith seen by most as the Nidai. The term used to describe the mei of the Shodai is "hanare-mei" or "ga-mei," while that used to characterize the signature of the Nidai is "futoji-mei" or "chikara-mei." These terms refer to the fineness and grace of the Shodai's signature and the relatively more powerfully inscribed characters of the Nidai's. The Shodai is thought to have lived during the Eiroku and Tensho eras in the latter part of the 16th century, while the Nidai's years are considered to have been from Tensho into the Genna era. This locates both smiths well within the Golden Age of tsuba artists -- the Momoyama Period. Nobuie tsuba are esteemed and celebrated for the extraordinary beauty of their iron. The combination of the forging of the metal, the surface treatment by tsuchime and yakite married to powerfully expressive carving, the masterful manipulation of form, mass and shape, and the colour and patina of the iron makes Nobuie sword guards not only unique in the world of tsuba, but the greatest of the great. The sword guard here is a Shodai-made masterwork, done in mokko-gata form, a shape the early Nobuie smiths mastered to a degree unmatched by any others. The expanding of the mass of the tsuba from the seppa-dai to the mimi, increasing by 50% from the centre of the guard to the rim, creates a sense of exploding energy, which is then contained by the uchikaeshi-mimi, yielding a lightning-in-a-bottle effect of captured energy. The hammering the master has employed to finish the surface is subtle and sensitive, achieving a resonant profundity, and the deep blue-black colour -- augmented by a lustrous patina -- leaves the tsuba to positively glow in one's hand. In this piece, Nobuie has used a motif of several kamon, or family crests, each carved only lightly on the surface in a loose ring around the nakago-ana. Due to the shallow depth of this carving, together with the tsuchime finish of the plate, the effect is to leave the kamon with a sort of weathered appearance, recalling the prime aesthetic values of sabi and wabi, which had great circulation in the Tea Culture so ascendant in the Momoyama years. However, the effects of sabi and wabi expressed in the treatment described above are amplified and deepened by the color and patina of the iron, thereby adding yet another aesthetic value -- yuugen -- which is linked with the abiding mystery of the universe and one more — mono no aware — which alludes to the pathos of life's experiences and transitory nature. In short, this Nobuie tsuba joins poetry with power and therein exemplifies the unrivalled brilliance of Nobuie workmanship. -
Iron tsuba of mokko form decorated with arabesque (karakusa) in low relief carving. niku from 4.0 mm in the centre to 5.1 mm at the rim. Strong Nobuie [信家] signature (futoji-mei) to the left of nakago-ana. Hitsuana plugged with pewter.
Size: H: 88.2 mm, W: 83.6, Th(c): 4.0 mm, Th(r): 5.1 mm Weight: 167 g.Signed: Nobuie [信家]
Probably the work of Nidai Nobuie (c. 1600).
Tokubetsu hozon certificate № 229324 of the N.B.T.H.K., dated 22.12.2010 -
Iron tsuba in a form of an eight-petalled blossom (lotus) form, petals separated by linear low-relief carving, both hitsu-ana filled with gold plugs, the surface decorated with tsuchime-ji, rich grey-brownish patina, niku from 4 mm in the centre to 6 mm at the rim. Strong (futoji-mei) Nobuie [信家] signature to the left of nakago-ana. Attributed to the 2nd generation of Nobuie masters (Nidai Nobuie).
Size: outer diameter 84 mm, thickness at centre: 4 mm, at rim: 6 mm. Wight: 167 g.Signed: Nobuie [信家]
Probably the work of Nidai Nobuie (c. 1600).
The gold plugs are likely a later work. -
Iron tsuba of mokkō-form with a pine and a frog on the face and a snail on the back, carved and inlaid with gold. Each figurative element of the design is signed on three inlaid cartouches: Masaharu (正春), Kazuyuki (一之), and Yoshikazu (良一) [read by Markus Sesko]. Snake, snail, and frog together make a design called "SANSUKUMI" - Three Cringing Ones [Merrily Baird]. The snail can poison the snake, the frog eats the snail, and the snake eats the frog. It's unclear whether the pine replaces the snake on this tsuba, or the snake is hiding in the pine? Anyway, the frog and the snail are clearly represented. "Maybe we have here a joint work with Masaharu (the silver cartouche next to the pine) being the master and making the plate and Kazuyuki and Yoshikazu as his students carving out the frog and the snail respectively". Copper sekigane.
Dimensions: 70.9 x 67.2 x 3.0 mm. Edo period (18th century).Markus Sesko writes: "I agree, the frog and the snail most likely allude to the san-sukumi motif. It is possible that we have here an artist's choice to deliberately leave out the snake, maybe he thought that the motif is already obvious and there is no need to add a snake to make it clear that the tsuba shows the san-sukumi motif." [Markus Sesko].
Kazuyuki (一之): adopted son of Kumagai Yoshiyuki, student of Ichijō (Gotō-Ichijō Scool) [M. Sesko 'Genealogies', page 19.] Masaharu (正春): Kasuya fam., student of Masamichi (1707-1757) who was the 4th generation Nomura School master in Edo. [M. Sesko 'Genealogies', page 49.] -
Title: NOUVELLE | LISTE | DES JOLIES FEMMES | DE PARIS ; | LEURS NOMS ET LEUR DEMEURE. | PRIX TROIS FRANCS. | Se trouve A Paris , au Palais des plaisirs. | — | An 1808. || Pagination : [1-6] 7-70 [2 blank] Collation : 9vo, [A]9 B-D9. Binding: Original blue wrappers, 15 x 9 cm. Ref: OCLC finds only one copy, at the British Library. The BnF has a work of the same title, with the same pagination, dated 1803. The stated publisher seems to be fictitious. Quaritch description: 12mo, pp. 70; a little dusty, a few spots and marks; a very good uncut copy in original blue/grey wrappers; somewhat worn and stained. Very rare guide to Parisian prostitutes providing an extraordinary snapshot of the state of prostitution in the city during the First French Empire. The anonymous compiler begins with a brief history of prostitution in the capital, and its regulation, under Charlemagne and Louis VIII, describes a brothel established by Joanna I of Naples at Avignon and discusses Pierre-Jean Grosley’s estimate of the number of prostitutes in London. He then provides his liste, divided into categories including ‘houses of the first order’, ‘bawdy houses’, ‘actresses’, ‘washerwomen’, and ‘procuresses’, giving the name of each prostitute, an indication of their age, and their physical attributes, character, and particular talents. Rosanne, for example, chez Madame l’Évêque at the Palais du Tribunat, offers ‘unspeakably voluptuous pleasures to the nether regions’; Honorine prefers women; Scholastique likes wine with her lovemaking; Nanette has a penchant for soldiers; Genevieve favours the priapic; Dorsay enjoys S&M, and Madame Laperriere promises rejuvenation to the elderly. One Ducroisy is poetically described as possessing ‘a tuft as black as a crow above two alabaster columns’, while Félicité has skin ‘soft and white, sprinkled with golden freckles, like gold in Maraschino liqueur’. The author hopes that his listed will bring business to the ladies and pleasure to their clients, beseeching both to look after their health so that his guide might ‘serve Love, not Asclepius’. -
Hardcover volume, 21.5 x 14.7 x 5.7 cm, bound in red cloth with blind-stamped ms signature to front board and gilt lettering over black labels, and gild design elements to spine; pp.: [i-iv] (h.t./blank, t.p./copyright) v-xv[xvi] blank, [1-2] f.t./blank, 3-1653 [1654] blank, [2] publ. note/blank; 1672 pp total; Blue ink ms inscription to h.t. 'Lawrence Wyman'. Title-page (in a two-rule frame): THE COMPLETE WORKS OF | O. Henry | Foreword by | WILLIAM LYON PHELPS | AUTHENTIC EDITION | {publisher’s device, G.C.P.} | De Luxe Edition | — | Garden City Publishing Co., Inc. | GARDEN CITY NEW YORK || Contributors: O. Henry [William Sydney Porter] (American, 1862 – 1910) – author. William Lyon Phelps (American, 1865 – 1943) – author/foreword. -
Publisher’s original wrappers, with VIDBERGS to front (bordered) and to spine, size 25 x 18 cm. Title page: O. LIEPIŅŠ | SIGISMUNDS | VIDBERGS | MONOGRAFIJA | K. RASIŅA APGĀDS | RIGĀ 1942 || Imprint: ATTĒLI MĀKSLINIEKA IZRAUDZĪTI UN SAKĀRTOTI (pictures selected and arranged by the artist) Pagination: [1-6] (incl. 1st blank leaf), 7-149 [150] [2] blank; 44 pages of text with in-text illustrations, pp. 47-149 – plates on odd pages, titles on even pages, 51 full-page illustrations. Circulation: 4,000 copies. Contributors: Liepiņš, Olģerts (Latvian, 1906 – 1983) – author. Sigismunds Vidbergs (Latvian-American, 1890 – 1970) – artist. Kārlis Rasiņš (Latvian, 1886 – 1974) – publisher. -
Large iron tsuba with hammer marks on the surface, small oval opening to the right of nakaga-ana; yamagane fukurin chiselled with tortois shell diaper pattern.
Early Muromachi period (1393-1453). Size: 101.2 x 101.9 x 2.4 (center), 5.2 (rim) mm; weight: 148.4 g. -
Description: two volumes, 38.3 x 25.5 cm each, uniformly bound in red morocco, boards decorated in gilt in the style of Luc-Antoine Boyet, with gilt dentelle inside out; spine with raised bands, gilt lettering, gilt in compartments; all edges gilt; marbled endpapers; printed on laid paper, text in the floral frame, engraved frontispiece (after Hyacinthe Rigaud), plates, t.p. vignette with the portrait of Desiderius Erasmus (after Quentin Metsys), head- and tailpieces (total of 40, some repeating) and 2 initials by Bernard Picart, folded portrait of dedicatee Guillelmine Charlotte Princesse de Galles &c &c &c by van Gunst after Kneller. Title-page (red and black, tall ‘s’): OEUVRES | DE | NICOLAS BOILEAU | DESPRÉAUX. | AVEC DES | ÉCLAIRCISSEMENTS | HISTORIQUES, | DONNEZ PAR LUI-MEME. | Nouvelle Edition revuë, corrigée & augmentée de diverses Remarques. | Enrichie de figures gravées par Bernard Picart le Romain. | TOME PREMIER (SECOND). | {vignette} | A AMSTERDAM, | Chez DAVID MORTIER. | — | M DCCXVIII. | AVEC PRIVILEGE. || Vol. 1. Collation: 4to; 1 ffl, a-c4 d1 A-3K4, 3L2, 1ffl; (K3 marked I3). Plates: t.p. vignette, frontispiece, 24 head- and tailpieces, f.t. in a grotesque frame and 6 full-page for ‘Le Lutrin’ in the same frame by Bernard Picart; folded portrait of Guillelmine Charlotte, Princess of Wales by van Gunst after Kneller. Pagination: [4] [i-v] vi-xviii [4] [1] 2-450 [2]. Vol. 2. Collation: 4to; 2 ffl, π2 A-3C4 3D3 2 ffl; (V3 marked T3, 2L4 marked A). Plates: t.p. vignette (same as vol.1) and 7 head- and tailpieces by Bernard Picart. Pagination: [4] [i-iii] iv-vii [viii] [1] 2-370 [2] [20]. Catalogue raisonné: Lewine 72-3; Cohen-De Ricci 165-6. Contributors: Luc-Antoine Boyet (French, fl. 1684 – 1733) – bookbinder. Claude Brossette (French, 1671 – 1743) – author, remarks. André Dacier (French, 1651 – 1722) – author, preface. Nicolas Boileau Despréaux (French, 1636 – 1711) – author. Pieter Stevens van Gunst (Dutch, 1659-1724) – engraver. Sir Godfrey Kneller (British, 1646-1723) – artist. David Mortier (Dutch-British, 1673 – 1728) – publisher. Bernard Picard (French, 1673 – 1733) – artist, engraver. Quentin Massijs [Metsys, Matsys] (Flemish, 1466 – 1530) – artist. Hyacinthe Rigaud [Jacint Rigau-Ros i Serra] (French, 1659 - 1743) – artist. Guillelmine Charlotte, Princess of Wales (Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach) (1683 – 1737) – dedicatee -
Ogata Gekkō [尾形月耕] (Japanese, 1859 – 1920). An uchiwa-e (fan-print) of advertisement of tobacco of Kagoshima Prefecture, c. 1890 (Meiji Period). Barefoot Tengu* is sitting on a torii (entrance to a Shinto shrine), smoking a cigarette through a mouthpiece. _______ * Tengu [天狗] (heavenly dog) is a type of legendary creature found in Japanese folk religion and are also considered a type of Shinto god (kami) or yōkai (supernatural beings).
