About this Item
"Japan: Bunkyu 3, 1863. N.P. Small Quarto (chu-ban)(10"" x 7"", 254mm x 203mm). Bound with thread. Spine uncovered. Housed in a blue fabric clamshell box with toggle closures. Well-worn original wrappers with later stitching; light corner thumbing, small worm track to the first ten leaves. Abrasion to the cover. This encyclopedic text offers numerous woodblock maps and profusion of prints. It is a richly dense Japanese encyclopedia and atlas featuring a decorative title page and double-page color-printed map of the Pacific Ocean in which a prominent Dutch trading ship is sailing between the Americas and China, Japan, southeast Asia, and Australia (shown connected to Antarctica). Additional maps of Japan, Edo, Osaka, and Kyoto included. Encyclopedic section is separated into 13 parts, with categories such as portraits of significant leaders and foreigners, cooking, animals, culture, games, fortune telling, armor, kamon, and more. This atlas/encyclopedia was first printed in 1830 and was drawn by Osaka artist Matsukawa Hanzan (1818-1882), most widely known for his landscape images. Matuskawa often collaborated with Gyosho Shosei on numerous pictorial travel guides, meisho-e, such as Keihan Meisho Zue (Famous Places of Kyoto and Osaka) that were popularized in the mid-nineteenth century. Matsukawa also produced illustrations for newspapers and contemporary literature. ". Seller Inventory # AJS0001
Contact seller
Report this item
