• Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi [歌川 國芳] (Japanese, 1798 – 1861). Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. C. 1845 – 1847), seal: San [三] (Marks 11-001 | 127c). Carver: Matsushima Fusajirō [松嶋房次郎] (Japanese, fl. 1843 – 1850); seal [彫工房次郎] – Hori kō Fusajirō (Gordon Friese № 136) Signed: Chōōrō Kuniyoshi ga [朝櫻楼国芳画] in a red double gourd-shaped cartouche. Nanushi censor seal: Tanaka [田中]; V/1844 or II/1845. Media: Fan print (uchiwa-e, 団扇絵), 238 x 304 mm. Reference: Kuniyoshi Project. Series mentioned in Robert Schaap. Heroes and ghosts: Japanese prints by Kuniyoshi, 1797-1861.— Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 1998; p. 122 [LIB-1030.2016].
  • Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). No publisher seal, no date or censor seal; probably a private printing. Signed: Kunisada ga [国貞画] in a red double gourd cartouche. Media: Untrimmed fan print (uchiwa-e), 231 x 294 mm, with the use of mica and black lacquer.    
  • Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi [歌川 國芳] (Japanese, 1798 – 1861). Publisher: Izuzen (fl. c. 1800s – 1840s) (Marks 06-029|U103b). Signed: Ichiyosai Kuniyoshi ga in a red cartouche and sealed with paulownia crest (kiri mon). Double nanushi censor seals: Fuku & Muramatsu, 1849-51 (Kaei 2 – Kaei 4). Young woman in front of the western-style framed portrait of Soga Tokimune, who is depicted after having his kusazuri ripped off by Asahina Saburō. The series of fan prints A Collection of Pictures in Modern Style [今様額面合] (Imayô gakumen awase) can be found at Kuniyoshi Project. Soga Tokimune, a.k.a. Soga no Gorō [曾我時致] (Japanese, 1174 – 1193), a historical figure and a character of an epic tale Soga Monogatari [曽我物語] (A Tale of Soga Brothers). Asahina Saburō [朝比奈 三朗], a.k.a. Asahina Yoshihide [朝比奈 義秀] is also mentioned in the Soga Monogatari. Kusazuri [草摺] (くさずり) – tassets on a suit of a samurai's armour. Another Kuniyoshi's print with the same characters: Goro Tokimune and Asahina Saburo; Series: The Tale of Soga Brothers; Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō; Date: 1843-1845; Size: Vertical Ōban: 359 x 245 mm.
  • Etching and drypoint, signed in pencil by the artist under the plate; 2nd state. Pasted on a sheet of blue paper. Fragment of "La messe de Gnide". Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Blue paper: 32 x 27 cm; Laid paper: 30.7 x 22 cm; Image: 12.5 x 4 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 364; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 59; Rouir: 508.

  • Drypoint on wove paper, depicting a woman in a hat with a ribbon lettered "ACADEMIE", carrying in her hand a male head in spectacles on a plate. Monogrammed "FR 83", inscribed: LA MODERNITÉ. — Imp. Eudes.; in pencil on verso."L'ARTISTE" – OCT. 1886 | (PRUD'HOMME ONTHOOFD) E 332-V". Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 27.2 x 17.8 cm; Plate: 19.7 x 14 cm; Image: 18.5 x 13 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Rouir 767:5; Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 405; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 72.

  • Soft-ground etching on laid paper. Inscribed on plate: "Le dessous de cartes d'une partie de whist" [The underside of a game of whist]. Owner's stamp 'LvM' on verso.

    Dimensions: Paper: 26 x 20 cm; Image: 24 x 17.7 cm.

    Catalogue raisonné: Arthur Hubschmid (1977): 43; Graphics irreverent and erotic (1968): 273.

  • Artist: Utagawa Sadahide [歌川 貞秀], a.k.a. Gountei Sadahide [五雲亭 貞秀] (1807 – c. 1878/9). Publisher: Iseya Ichiemon [伊勢屋市右衛門] (Japanese, fl. c 1823 – 1864), seal name Kaku-Tsuji [角辻]. Signed: Gountei Sadahide ga [五雲亭貞秀画] Censor's seal: kiwame, date seal: Tenpō 3 (1832). Size: Uncut fan print (uchiwa-e); 218 x 282 mm. Portrait of a young woman dressed in a green kimono decorated with arabesque (karakusa) and flowers, her black obi adorned with a dragon, in a western-style frame, on a blue background; and a painting of a parrot on a pomegranate tree. A similar design was used by Sadahide in 1860, described in detail by Sebastian Izzard in his Japanese Prints of the Mid-Nineteenth Century: 1830–1865, September 20–October 24, 2006 exhibition: Picture of a Curio Shop in Yokohama: reverse painting on glass of a crimson parrot, coloured copperplate engraving of a mother and child (Yokohama urimono mise no zu: gyokuban abura-e, doban-e saishiki). Colour woodblock print: oban tate-e, 143/8 x 93/4 in. (36.5 x 24.8 cm.); Man-en I/3 (3/1860) Series: Picture of Goods for Sale in Yokohama (Yokohama urimono zue no uchi) Signature: Gountei Sadahide ga, double toshidama seal Publisher: Daikokuya Kinnosuke.
  • Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi [歌川 國芳] (Japanese, 1798 – 1861).

    Title: Suzume fukube [美人団扇絵] (Sparrow and gourds).

    Series: Kacho awase [花鳥合] (Collection of flowers and birds).

    Publisher: Aritaya Seiemon [有田屋 清右衛門] (Japanese, fl. c. 1830 – 1862); Seal: Marks 17-011 | 014d.

    Signed: Ichiyosai Kuniyoshi ga in a red cartouche and sealed with paulownia crest (kiri mon).

    Size: Uchiwa-e (untrimmed fan print) 296 x 230 mm.

    Double nanushi censor seals: Kinugasa & Watanabe, Kaei 2-3 (1849–50).

    Ref.: Kuniyoshi Project.
  • 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). Combined date and kiwame seal: Ansei 5 (II-XII/1858). Size: Untrimmed fan print (uchiwa-e), 300 x 232 mm.

    A young woman adjusting her hairpin on a balcony during the Tanabata festival, as inscribed on the white folding fan: [七夕] (Tanabata).

    Inscription on the blue book (print title): Early autumn [はつ秋や] (hatsu akiya), inscription on the purple book (series title): Short love songs, second volume [端唄の意 二編] (Hauta no kokoro nihen). According to Marks (2010), Hauta no kokoro nihen series of fan prints was published by Ibaya in 1858 (p. 267|P6871).

    The series refers to love songs of a certain type popular in late Edo. They were performed with the accompaniment of a shamisen, “Seven herbs of autumn, the song of the insects is not heard; the bodies of lightning bugs are burnt, and the precious writings of love are getting thinner like the song of the insects as I am waiting for you. So, on an early autumn evening, I spot the glitter of a lightning bug that lingered among the autumn grasses, and while listening to the pine cricket, I am singing with my heart troubled by love". [Tokyo National Museum; translation provided by Elena Varshavsky].

    Tanabata [たなばた] or [七夕] – meaning "Evening of the seventh", also known as the Star Festival [星祭] (Hoshi matsuri) is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. One popular Tanabata custom is to write one's wishes on a piece of paper and hang that piece of paper on a specially erected bamboo tree, in the hope that the wishes become true.

  • Title (in a frame): THE TEMPTATION | OF ST. ANTHONY | BY | GUSTAVE FLAUBERT | TRANSLATED BY | LAFCADIO HEARN | ILLUSTRATED BY | MAHLON BLAINE | {vignette} | NEW YORK |  WILLIAMS, BELASCO | AND MEYERS || Pagination: ffl, [1, 2 - ht, blank] [2 - blank, frontis.] [3, 4 - t.p., colophon] [5, 6 - plate, blank] [7, 8 - list of ill., blank] [9 'argument'] 10-189 [190] bfl; frontispiece and 4 plates reproduced from Blaine's pen drawings in "woodcut" manner. Binding:25.5 x 17 cm., original black cloth, front cover and spine stamped in gilt; printed on thick paper, margins trimmed unevenly; pink pictorial DJ. Contributors: Gustave Flaubert (French, 1821 – 1880) – author. Mahlon Blaine (American, 1894 – 1969) – artist. Patrick Lafcadio Hearn [Koizumi Yakumo; 小泉 八雲] ( Greek-Irish, 1850 – 1904) – translator. Williams, Belasco and Meyers – publisher. J. J. Little & Ives, Co., NY – printer.
  • Quinze poèmes d'Emile Verhaeren. Illustrés de 57 gravures sur bois dessinées et gravées par Frans Masereel et suivis d'un 'Souvenir à Verhaeren' par Octave Uzanne. — Paris: Éditions Georges Crès, 1917. Authors: Emile Verhaeren (text), Frans Masereel (illustrations), Octave Uzanne (text). Publisher: Éditions Georges Crès. [Georges-Célestin Crès (1875 - 1935) was a French publisher and bookseller. Address: 116 boulevard Saint-Germain, Paris]. Printer: Sonor S.A. - Geneve, under the direction of Auguste Jordanis. The number of copies printed: 1555 of which 15 (1-15) on Japan paper, 190 (16-205) on Fabriano paper, and 1350 (206-1555) on English paper (1506-1555 not for trade). This copy № 1312. Pagination: [i] - front cover, [ii] - half-title, [iii] - title, [iv] - printrun justification, [v] - table of contents, [vi] - blank, [i-vii] viii-ciii, [civ] - printer statement, [cv] - back cover; one-side (recto) printing and pagination. Owner's contemporary red half-Morocco with marbled boards; spine with four raised bands, gilt lettering and design elements. Original printed paper wrappers preserved. Marbled endpapers. Trimmed unevenly.