Catalogue of Art Treasures of Ten Great Temples of Nara, with Supplemental Volumes (30 Volumes Total)

Published by The Otsuka Kogeisha, Tokyo, 1932

About this Item

All volumes: 11x14 inches, natural linen/boards. Silver-grey embossed Buddhist design on cover; Japanese lettering on spine. Top edges gilt. The primary volume about each temple contains a map of the temple area. All plates in Vols. 1-27 are b/w on card stock, and those in Vols. 28-30 are on regular paper. All plates have tissue guards. There are a few bw illus. within the Japanese portion of the text in most volumes. Pagination (Japanese/English), no. of plates per volume is as follows: Vol. 1: 30/6; 106 plates. Vol. 2: 14/8; 89 plates. Vol. 3: 16/7; 85 plates. Vol. 4: 26/7; 112 plates. Vol. 5: 26/8; 103 plates. Vol. 6: 20/7; 108 plates. Vol. 7: 30/9; 92 plates. Vol. 8: 28/9; 120 plates. Vol. 9: 24/8; 139 plates. Vol. 10: 26/7; 87 plates. Vol. 11: 22/9; 115 plates. Vol. 12: 16/8; 92 plates. Vol. 13: 24/10; 113 plates. Vol. 14; 26/9; 136. Vol. 15: 30/10; 124 plates. Vol. 16: 24/8; 112 plates. with extra sheet in Japanese laid in (errata? advertisement?). Vol. 17: 16/5; 83 plates. Vol. 18: 20/1; 19 plates. Vol. 19: 12/5; 48 plates. Vol. 20: 10/7; 72 plates. Vol. 21: 18/6; 76 plates. Vol. 22: 18/10; 66 plates. Vol. 23: 26/14; 90 plates. Vol. 24: 18/7; 70 plates. Vol. 25: 14/5; 75 plates. Vol. 26: 18/8; 75 plates. Vol. 27: 18/9; 88 plates. Vol. 28: 30/0; 84 plates. Vol. 29: 18/0; 85 plates. Vol. 30: 32/0; 78 plates. NOTE: THIS SET WEIGHS 150 POUNDS (68 KILOS) AND WILL REQUIRE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF EXTRA POSTAGE. NOTE: Volumes 1 through 27 are in both English and Japanese with plates described in both languages. Volumes 28, 29, and 30 are in Japanese only. Volumes 1-12 are about the Horyuji Temple; Vol. 13, the Yakushiji Temple; Vols. 14-15, the Kofukuji Temple; Vols. 16-17, the Todaiji Temple; Vol. 18 the Gangoji Temple; Vol. 19, the Hokkeji Temple; Vol. 20, the Shin-yakushiji Temple; Vols. 21-22, the Toshodaiji Temple; and Volumes 23-25, the Saidaiji Temple. All of these volumes (1-25) are about the Ten Great Temples of Nara but only count for 9 out of 10 temples, with no information about the Great Daianiji Temple. Volume 27, however, covers the 10th Nara Temple in this series, the Taemaji Temple. Volume 26 of this particular set is about the Kwanzeonji Temple in Fukuoka. Volumes 28-29 appear to be companion volumes (?) (Parts I and II) about another Japanese temple, Vol. 28 being about the temple itself and Vol. 29 being about the Buddhist statuary within. As this is all in Japanese, this is an educated guess. Finally, Vol. 30 appears to be about yet another temple, and, in particular, what looks like a series of scroll paintings with text that are housed in the temple. An amazing set in its entirety and very scarce! Contents overall clean and tight, but the set is art school ex-lib. (uncirculating) with usual marks. Some covers are loosening, and the text block/covers of Volume 29 are completely detached from each other. Varying degrees of corner/edge fraying of linen cloth (and two kinds of linen used; on finer; one more coarse); with the odd spot or bits of foxing (mostly to end papers) and very light age toning to some page margins. Staining (coffee?) to the upper front cover of Vol. 10; no bleed to interior. Generally, a VG set for its contents with some volumes apparently unread. Seller Inventory # 158073

Bibliographic Details

Title: Catalogue of Art Treasures of Ten Great ...

Publisher: The Otsuka Kogeisha, Tokyo

Publication Date: 1932

Binding: Hardcover

Edition: Published between 1932 and 1935.