Some favourite subjects:
Some favourite subjects:
[Nikonikoponchi]. Osaka, Enomotoshoten 1919 (Taisho 8). 21x14cm publisher's colour litho wrapper; 10pp including wrapper; colour lithograph illustrations throughout. Natural browning of the cheap paper, an excellent copy. Au$80
Short comic strip gags printed in that style that makes you reach for your 3D glasses. Maybe not the finest printing but these akahons (red books) - cheap and gaudy - do manage to catch the thrill of being alive in a time when everything is fun. This may be a reprint; published a couple of years after the first.
Sugiura Hisui. [Shonen Sekai Kyoso Sugoroku]. Tokyo, Shonen Sekai 1919 (Taisho 8). Colour broadside 54x78cm. A couple of small nicks in a margin; rather good with playing pieces intact in the left margin. Au$400
Sports, sports and more sports in this game - the new year gift from the boys' magazine Shonen Sekai. If you look at portraits of the champion of modern design and fastidious dandy, Sugiura, it's hard to imagine anyone less inclined to jump and sweat. But maybe I misjudge him.
Morita Hisashi. [Sekai Yume Ryoko Sugoroku]. Tokyo, Sekai Shonen 1919 (Taisho 8). Colour broadside 79x54cm. Used with several tears in folds and an old repair. Au$100
A good sugoroku but not a great copy, this dream adventure was the new year gift from the boys' magazine Sekai Shonen. Morita was a busy illustrator and art director for the Takarazuka Revue through the twenties.
[Tojimari Sen Kanagu : Bunka Kuroro]. [192-?]. Colour lithograph poster 76x35cm. Short tears around the edges; pretty good. Au$200
This shop poster is both an advertisement and a warning: these handsome door or window locks will not keep out mournful children.
Fire Safety Poster. - [Hifuse - Chichibu Shobogume]. Chichibu Fire Prevention Publicity Department [192-?]. Colour litho poster 39x27cm. Au$225
A good straightforward illustration of what a carefully applied match can do.
Hikifuda. Specimen hikifuda. n.p. [192-?]. Colour lithograph 26x38cm. A bit creased, stab holes on the right indicating it was once in an album. A printed code number on the back. Au$135
A glamorous pair of Taisho women doing what urban Japanese did best: throng the busy exciting streets and shop. These hikifuda - handbills or small advertising posters - were often produced with blank frames for customers to have their own wares and business details printed over. I'd guess this was aimed at the fashion industry.
Hikifuda. Specimen hikifuda. n.p. [192-?]. Colour lithograph 26x38cm. A bit rumpled, stab holes on the right indicating it was once in an album. A printed code number on the back. Au$150
The vivid and exciting world of groceries beautifully depicted. These hikifuda - handbills or small advertising posters - were often produced with blank frames for customers to have their own wares and business details printed over.
Noshigami - . A sample book of Noshigami - special paper for gifts - from the Kadoya Dyeing Workshop, Tokyo. Tokyo [c1920?]. Large octavo by size (235x180mm), printed stiff wrappers; 105 leaves of colour printed samples. Au$400
Noshi-gami is specially printed paper to be folded and attached to gifts as I understand it. The ineluctable beauty of the patterns is enhanced in this book by being in a quite smart cover decorated with electric locomotives.
GARNIER, Tony. Les Grands Travaux de la Ville de Lyon. Etudes, projets et travaux executes. Paris, Massin [1920]. folio, loose as issued in publisher's portfolio of cloth backed printed boards; 12pp and 56 plates - drawings, plans, elevations and photos. Au$1200
In Garnier's work in Lyon, instigated by the mayor Edouard Herriott from 1906 on, he realised many of the ideas set forth in his Cite Industrielle and some of the ideas in Cite Industrielle came from his work in Lyon. Une Cite Industrielle was largely finished by 1904 but not published until 1918 so he had the chance to plug a few of the gaps in his imagined city from his real city. Some projects here were completed in later years and some never realised.
$100000 Reward [Hyakumandoru no Kensho]. Tokyo, Shunkodo 1920 (Taisho 1920). Octavo publisher's illustrated wrapper printed in red and black and colour illustrated dustwrapper (the spine of this insect nibbled); two photo plates and illustrated title. Stab holes indicating this had been in some outer binding; natural browning of the paper; an outstanding copy. An owner's seal and brushed inscription inside the front cover and on the back cover suggests this is some kind of file copy. Au$475
A pulpish film edition in Japanese translation of the 1920 serial thriller $1,000,000 Reward starring Lillian Walker. The film itself is lost and from what I can figure out not much more than production credits and a partial list of chapter headings survives in English. This book is near as lost, I can find only one record of another copy - not in a library.
Advertising - Lotus Margarine. Lotus Margarine. Fine de Table. Recettes de Cuisine. Lotus [192-?]. 21x11cm publisher's colour illustrated wrapper; 32pp, b/w illustrations and decorations throughout. Cover (and inside?) by Duzolle. Au$85
A nifty little booklet, packed with style and cordon bleu recipes.
LEGRAND, Edy. Voyages Glorieuses Decouvertes des Grands Navigateurs & Explorateurs Francais. Paris, Tolmer 1921. folio publisher's illustrated boards & cloth spine; 2 folding maps & illustrations throughout coloured by pochoir. A rather good copy in a cloth chemise and slipcase. Au$750
One of the triumphs of modern French book making which, fittingly enough looks back to the triumphs (or glory at least) of Cartier, de la Salle and La Perouse.
Sugoroku. [Diasan Sugoroku]. Osaka, Morishita 1921 (Taisho 10) Colour broadside 54x78cm. A nice copy. Au$450
A rare and cheerful promotional game for New Year from a friendly drug company. I don't know exactly what Diasan did - it was some kind of digestive - but it clearly made you healthy and happy.
Yamada Takanori. [Shonen Yakyu Sugoroku]. Tokyo, Shonen Sekai 1921 (Taisho 10). Colour broadside 55x79cm. Used, a bit rumpled and browned with some short tears and a small chip in the margin. This is - some mitigation - an untrimmed copy with ample margins and trim marks in the top margin. Not bad. Au$500
An early and rare baseball sugoroku, this was the new year gift from the boys' magazine Shonen Sekai. There is an earlier Japanese baseball paper game (新案 室内ベースボール 1907) but it's not exciting - a simple baseball diamond within a decorative border - and I haven't yet found an earlier sugoroku devoted to it.
[Miezaru Te] The Invisible Hand. Tokyo, Shunkodo 1921 (Taisho 10). Octavo publisher's colour colour illustrated wrapper; four photo illustrations on two plates. Stab holes indicating this had been in some outer binding; natural browning of the paper; an outstanding copy. Au$400
A pulpish film edition in Japanese translation of the 1920 Vitagraph serial thriller The Invisible Hand starring the then Latin idol Antonio Moreno. The serial was not, despite what some authorities will tell you, a western. The film itself is lost and from what I can figure out not much more than production credits and a list of chapter headings survives in English. This book is near as lost, I can't find any record of another copy.
Advertising Sugoroku. Sugoroku issued by the Osaka Mainichi newspaper Sunday supplement Osaka, Mainichi Shimbun 1922 (Taisho 11). Broadsheet printed in brown. Several small tears in folds and edges, not bad for such a flimsy game. Au$30
A cheap game advertising local businesses printed in that grim brown that newspapers fondly imagined was more lively and attractive than black. It was part of the supplement for January 1st - far drabber than those colourful sheets produced by other papers and magazines and given as a new year gift. On the other side are typical photos of the Sunday supplement kind including puppies in the snow.
[Kisha to Norimono]. Osaka, Okamoto Zoshindo 1923 (Taisho 12). 17x18cm publisher's colour illustrated wrapper; [12]pp including wrapper, eight full page illustrations inside. The back wrapper - which is flimsier paper - is browned and creased; a pretty good copy. Au$150
Machines and people on the move - what better subject for a book? Better quality than the really cheap akahon (red books) for kids that came out of Osaka but not a lot.
Catalogue - Fashion. Ribby. Paris. Ribby 1923 - 1924. Paris 1923. Largish octavo printed wrapper (dusty and a bit marked); 16pp, illustrated throughout, the first page colour. A bit used but very decent. Au$80
Smart autumn and winter outfits for men and women, casual and formal.
Morita Hisashi. [Kensho Tsuki Shonen Yakyu Sugoroku]. Tokyo, Sekai Shonen 1923 (Taisho 12). Colour broadside 55x79cm. Signs of use: a couple of small holes in folds and ink blotches. Au$350
An early baseball game. Baseball made cameo appearances in earlier games devoted to sport but the earliest all baseball sugoroku I've so far seen was the 1921 new year sugoroku also produced by the boy's magazine Shonen Sekai. Clearly it was a hit - this was the new gift only two years later.
Morita was a busy illustrator and art director for the Takarazuka Revue through the twenties.
Metrication. [Toitsu Sa Reta Metoru-ho]. Tokyo, Asahi Graphic 1923 (Taisho 12). Colour poster 53x38cm. Au$90
Handy educational tool for the imminent establishment of the metric system as Japan's official system of measurement. Up until then metric, imperial and traditional measures were legal. It was proposed to make a gradual change over ten years but by the thirties the nationalistic backlash meant that it was all postponed again. And again. The American occupation forces cared nothing for metrics and it was the mid sixties before everybody was up to scratch.
Exhibition - Tokyo 1922. [Heiwa Kinen Tokyo Hakurankai Jimu Hokoku]. Tokyo Fucho 1924 (Taisho 13). Two volumes 26x19cm, publisher's embossed wrappers (browned); 681pp, heaps of illustrations: folding colour plans, architectural elevations and plans, photo plates, etc. Browning and foxing expected from the paper but still a rather good fresh copy. Au$1350
The official report on the 1922 Tokyo Memorial Peace Exposition is the very model of what an official report on an exhibition should be. You could just about rebuild the whole thing from this. The detail extends to measured drawings of light fittings, plans of the garden beds and coloured reproductions of the tickets and advertising.
The 1922 Peace Memorial Exhibition, celebrating the League of Nations and a bright future, was the most lavish national Expo ever held. The pavilions were a mix of stately, ultra modern and funfair fairy tale.
HOPKINS, Henry Powell. Sources of Memorial Ornamentation. Vermont Marble Company 1924. Quarto, very good in publisher's gilt decorated boards, cloth spine; 44pp, 14 plates. Au$75
Something of a trade catalogue:- a primer of the basic styles - Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Celtic, Gothic and Colonial - with suggestions for their application to modern gravestones.
Wada Ayata. [Shiyouindo Soshoku]. Kyoto, Unsodo 1924. Folio (370x255mm), loose as issued in publisher's cloth portfolio with printed label; four leaves of text, 33 plates (10 are colour lithographs) of designs with a few photo illustrations of finished work; the last three plates are alphabets (ie Japanese characters) in new modern styles. Au$3000
Rare. In fact I have expert advice that this is 'ubu' - which when applied to books I'm told means very rare and special. This is one of the more luxuriously produced portfolios of modern Japanese designs of the period; the colour plates are glowing lithographs. Part of the fascination of Japanese modernism is that not only did 'commercial art' encompass such a breadth of, to us, disparate disciplines but that they were given equal weight. Show windows are not less important than advertising graphics, or lighting, or even architecture itself. They all demand an equal application of inventiveness and artists and designers turned their hand to buildings, posters, books, stage and costumes, and show windows with equal relish.
Wada was just such a designer of the Taisho and early Showa periods; he also produced albums of alphabets and interior designs. In later years he turned to politics and economics, which is just sad. OCLC finds only the National Diet copy.
Hayashi Tadaichi. [Shonen Teito Fukko Sugoroku]. Tokyo, Nihon Shonen 1924 (Taisho 13). Colour printed broadside 55x79cm. A much played copy with some holes in folds, several short tears and nicks around the edges. Au$200
Not a great copy but have you seen a better piece of visionary urban planning? This was the the new year gift from Nihon Shonen (Japanese Boy) and what better way to mark the new year than rebuilding the freshly devastated Tokyo along utopian lines? The title more or less translates as Boy's Reconstruction of the Imperial Capital and I'd move there in a flash.
This has been thought out. Public transport is a marvel with canals, aerial cable cars and trains tearing round the city and on and off ferries. The airport is sensibly at flight level, which must save enormous amounts of fuel and I think the floating palace is an overnight shuttle to America. Public health and safety is well considered: the fire brigade operates from a tower with a water cannon that can reach across the city to extinguish fires and the hospital will come to you, no matter the terrain. Culture and sport are catered for and the traditional at heart will be comforted to see industry over on the wrong side of the tracks, well away from the houses on the hill, where it belongs. Two essential Tokyo survivors are the start and finish: Tokyo railway station and the imperial palace.
I don't approve of the alarm on the clock tower but no-one can be unimpressed by the solar heating plant. Boy or not, this is the town for me.
Takeo Inoue. [Shojo Kokkei Kaimono Sugoroku]. Tokyo, Shojo Sekai 1925 (Taisho 14). Colour broadside 54x79cm. Signs of use with a couple of small holes in folds and a neat inscription on the back. Not bad. Au$300
Who said that a girl's life could be dull? Here are just some of the perils and joys of shopping. This was the new year gift from the magazine Shojo Sekai - Girl's World.
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