Some favourite subjects:
Some favourite subjects:
Kyoto Silk. A collection of 48 and a half large sample books of Kyoto silk from the twenties and thirties. Kyoto Orimonoshodo Meikai &c, c1920 to 1940. Various sizes corresponding to quarto or small folio, publisher's cloth or silk with stamped or paper label titles, some still in their card slipcases. Thousands of fabric samples mounted in window card leaves. These were, I'm told, in the family storehouse for decades and insects have sampled several covers and occasionally worked their way into the card leaves. A few covers show signs of mild damp but nothing drastic and there is general dustiness and some browning of card leaves - again nothing drastic - and all but one or two fabric swatches are in excellent shape. There are, out of however many thousand swatches in 48 volumes, perhaps a half dozen missing. The 49th - the half referred to - has about half of its 144 samples removed. Au$7200
These belonged to the Onishi Gofukumise, the Onishi Drygoods Store - kimono drapers of Uchika in the Ehime prefecture - a company that still exists in modern premises in the area. Their stamp is in many volumes and sometimes they have added a date stamp or written in the date, ranging from 1923 to 1938. All are from Kyoto, most under the banner of the Kyoto Orimonoshodo meikai - the textile merchants association. Lists of the member textile firms appear in some volumes.
The album titles, those I've been able to decipher, are not much help to me. They seem to be evocative or aspirational - much like the work of contemporary colour namers who label a colour 'harmony' instead of brown and 'hushed loam' rather than shit brown. Perhaps a textile expert will know that 'Encouragement', 'Mikado', 'Star' and 'Maple' (my approximations), if not trade marks, are particular ways of weaving or dyeing.
The first thing that struck me looking through these is the quality of book production. Many of these, most of these, are books produced with the same care as the best Kyoto design albums by publishers like Unsodo. There's nothing flimsy or slipshod; these books took a lot of time and care to make.
I don't like to boast but I can honestly say I know near as much about silk weaving as I do about playing the pedal steel guitar. Most of these seem to focus on the new season colours rather than patterns, though patterns are certainly there, but the weaving styles aren't by any means plain. There are creped silks, ribbed silks, damask like patterns and other esoteric textures produced by whatever occult means Japanese weavers used to make light play in different ways over the fabric.
Whether it's the pre-war born generation dying off or economic shift, a lot of fabulous textile stuff - design and sample albums - of the late 19th and early twentieth century has come out of Japan in the last few years. I've bought some and watched with hungry eyes much more go by and I notice it's slowed to a trickle. I'd like to think there's more to come but I suspect those old company and family storehouses have been pretty much emptied. I doubt another cache as rich as this, so specific to place and time, will be along anytime soon.
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.
Colour. A Grammar of Color. Arrangements of Strathmore Papers in a variety of printed colour combinations according to the Munsell color system .. Strathmore Paper Co., Mass 1921. Small folio publisher's cloth backed boards (a couple of small bumps to edges); 28,[4]pp & 19 folded & slotted sheets of sample papers colour printed, illustrations in the text. Au$175
A paper sample book elaborated into a treatise on colour theory - and a very attractive one - by a star cast: Munsell of course, who has contributed a preface, T.M. Cleland, Rudolph Ruzicka and Arthur Allen.
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.
Catalogue - beds. A.F. Melendes. Album No. 5 1923. Lits Fer & Cuivre & Cuivre. Clichy la Garenne 1923. Octavo publisher's printed wrapper; 24pp including covers, two-colour illustrations throughout. A couple of short tears, a nice copy. Four page price list for October 1923 loosely inserted. Au$100
A good array of traditional and modern iron and brass beds, the traditional are more successful.
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.
[Catalogue - Bicycles; Sports; Guns &c.]. Manufacture Francaise d'Armes & Cycles. Loire. Tarif-Album General. The company [c1925]. Octavo printed wrapper; 128pp, hundreds of illustrations throughout. Used but decent enough and complete with a sheet of tear-out address labels. Au$75
Heaps of stuff: bicycles and accessories of every kind; sporting pistols; sporting goods of all types - football, tennis, boxing; fishing equipment and collapsible boats; and a variety of goods likely to appeal to outdoor folks.
FLADER, Louis [ed]. Achievement in Photo-Engraving and Letter Press Printing, 1927. Chicago, American Photo-Engravers Association 1927. Thick quarto moulded mock leather; hundreds of plates in colour and black and white, some embossed, on a variety of papers. Signs of use but nothing drastic. Au$350
American commercial printing and graphic art at its peak; a self composed hymn to photo-engraving, which gave birth to advertising art according to the prefatory note. And much like virgin mothers, photo-engraving was soon to be ancient history.
Catalogue - musical instruments. Beare & Son. London. Beare & Son 1927 Nett Wholesale Export Catalogue. London, Beare 1927. Quarto old binders cloth (rubbed); 162pp, illustrated throughout including 10 colour plates of violins. Library marks inside front cover, used but solid and decent. Au$200
Beare & Son still exist as dealers in stringed instruments but in their heyday - like 1927 - they flooded the dominions with low to medium price instruments of every kind. Many were made for Beare under various house brands or their own, so for those wondering about that ancient Francois Barzoni violin this catalogue will tell you that it was made for Beare by some anonymous maker in the 1920s. Their range covers accordeons to zither banjos, fittings and accessories and includes quite a few jazz instruments.
Hotels. The Stevens. The World's Greatest Hotel. Chicago. Chicago, the company [1927]. Quarto publisher's printed wrapper; 32pp, profusely illustrated. Au$75
A celebratory promotion marking the opening of this massive and opulent pile. Built at a cost of over thirty million dollars, as proclaimed in the first sentence, the building still exists but the Stevens family went up in smoke wihin five years. By 1932 the hotel was bankrupt and the trio of father and two sons were soon after indicted for financial corruption. The father had a permanently crippling stroke, the elder son blew his brains out and the younger went to prison.
[Catalogue - Engraved stamps]. J. Augey, Saint-Claude. 1928. Maison Speciale pour tous Articles Graves. The company 1928. Octavo printed wrapper; 64pp, numerous illustrations. Au$90
An appealing catalogue of engraved metal, wood and rubber stamps - going well beyond mere date stamps (though many of these are quite handsome): trade marks, facsimile signatures and so on. As well are engraved and enamelled plaques and plaques for tombs with permanent photographs incorporated.
[Catalogue - Furniture]. Thonet. Thonet Freres. Paris Bd. Poissonniere, &c [c1928]. Oblong quarto by size, printed wrapper; 2pp & numerous illustrations on 11 leaves printed on rectos. Price list for March 1928 inserted. Au$275
An unfamiliar side of Thonet: their more substantial pieces, sofas and arms chairs in leather and upholstered chairs of all types.
[Catalogue - Service Stations]. Auto Omnia, Paris. Catalogue General No. 24 "Service Station". The company [1929]. Largish quarto publisher's flush cut boards with onlaid printed label; [8],472pp and a number of added inserts, hundreds of illustrations throughout. A very good copy. Au$250
Everything for the well equipped service station from the smallest widget to a truck lift. Much is of little interest to the non-mechanical but there are quantities of smart car accessories and fittings, from klaxons to hood ornaments, crystal scent holders (car perfumery is no new thing), cigar lighters and even a small Browning pistol for the absolutely complete motorist. A page of car enamel samples has miniature enamel car bodies pasted over the illustrated cars; there are stylish motoring fashions, picnic sets, and some fetching brake and indicator lights.
Catalogue - Photo albums. Seiundo Co. Tokyo. Catalogue of Album. Tokyo [193-?]. 16x10.5cm publisher's colour illustrated wrapper with metal pin; 18 leaves printed one side, b/w photo illustrations. Au$50
A neat little catalogue of photo and other albums in a varitey of styles, available in different sizes. Japan was by the thirties camera crazy as well having a large population of avid ephemera collectors. A good time to be in the album business.
[Catalogue - Metal Ware]. Metafa, Strassburg. Metallwarefabrik Schiltigheim. Katalog Nr.40. The company [1930's]. Oblong quarto illustrated wrapper; 34pp, numerous illustrations. Detatchable order cards present. Au$75
Modern chromeware, much for the kitchen including a sausage rack. At the end is some smart moderne children's furniture.
Catalogue - Furniture. Meubles Modernes. [Paris c1930?]. Oblong quarto printed wrapper; numerous photo illustrations on 32 pages. Used but decent enough. Au$50
A not entirely happy amalgam of modernity and period but a good record of what filled countless bourgeois homes. The makers are as yet unidentifed but the cover is monogrammed TF or FT. Thonet Freres is the first thought but that's clutching at straws.
Hikifuda. ... [Wayo Sake Kakushu ... Amari Eitaro Shoten]. n.p. [c1930?]. Colour lithograph 26x38cm. Quite good. Au$300
These blooming infants are scampering into battle for Japanese and foreign liquors. These hikifuda - small posters or handbills - were often produced with a blank text panel and the customer, usually a retailer, had their own details over printed. The patriotic youngsters may well advertise something more suitable on other examples.
Catalogue - Yachts. Herreshoff Manufacturing Co. Bristol, R.I. Yachts by Herreshoff. The company [193-?]. Quarto publisher's printed boards; [2],54pp, numerous photo illustrations, eight colour plates, 7 leaves on semi-transparent paper. Some browning, marks and signs of use but a pretty decent copy. Au$200
A company puff cum catalogue of their wares in the golden age. Hereshoff make much of their America's Cup winners but it's the cruising yachts, even the dinghys, of this period that bring a look of bliss or longing to a yachtsman's face.
Wine Labels - Sample Book. Myncke Freres, Brussels. The printer's sample album of wine labels by Myncke Freres of Brussels. n.p. 1930s. Oblong quarto (230x315mm) flexible linen album with some 220 lithograph labels plus some neck labels and vintage dates (ranging from 1915 to 1937) mounted on both sides of 31 leaves. Nothing removed and all in great shape. Au$400
This is an album to be shown to clients rather than a scrap book. There are numbers of labels for specific wineries and appellations, numbers more are for generic varieties or, in some case, unlettered altogether. All are signed Litho Myncke or initialled LM or MF.
The Mynckes seem to have made something of a specialty of wine - a rummage round the internet finds a couple of large posters for champagne - and this album shows they had a fair reach across western Europe - France, Belgium, into Germany and includes some Port labels in English. The styles also range around, from the classic and restrained (it's hard to beat a modicum of gold on glazed midnight blue) to vibrantly modern to garish kitsch.
Catalogue - watches. Yoshida Watch Company. ... Fancy Smart ... Yoshida Watch Company [from the cover]. [Tokyo? 193-?]. 15x22cm publisher's illustrated wrapper; 18pp, illustrated throughout. Pencil inscription on the front, staples disintegrated but rather good with a couple of special offer inserts and a four page illustrated clock leaflet dated 1929 inserted. Au$150
There were two Yoshida watch companies in Tokyo at this time. One, founded in 1920, still exists as a high class salon in Shibuya, and the other, which began as a wholesaler in 1901 started manufacturing watches in the 1930s. They morphed over the decades into Orient watches, a subsidiary of Seiko. This seems the more likely if we have to choose between the two. One inserted slip offers a 50% wholesale discount.
Quite smart, a lot of deco, mostly for men with a few women's watches at the end. A couple of these seem very expensive: 370 yen against a man's watch for less than 20 yen.
[Catalogue - Silverplate]. Ellis & Co. (B'Ham) Ltd. Silverplate [cover title]. Birmingham [1930's?]. Quarto publisher's cloth & illustrated boards (back board with some splotches), [2],108pp, numerous illustrations throughout. Au$60
A handsome catalogue of traditional reproduction silverware. The catalogue itself probably dates from around 1930, perhaps even a little earlier, but was clearly circulated for a long time as there is a letter about wages and price rises dated 1956 loosley inserted.
Okamoto Ippei. [Katei wo Akarumi he]. Tokyo, Nisshin Seimei Hoken [c1932]. 13x19cm publisher's colour illustrated wrapper; 16pp with eight colour illustrations by Ippei, some small photo illustrations. A nice copy. Au$200
A fun booklet advertising the benefits of insurance from the company, Nisshin Seimei Hoken (Nissin Life Insurance), illustrated by master illustrator/manga artist, radical and scallywag Okamoto Ippei.
Catalogue - clutter & kitsch. Lawton. Catalogue of Lawton Art Ware, Statuettes and Picture Plaques. Lawton Manufacturing Co Ltd [c1934]. 22 x 28cm printed card wrappers (piece cut from top front corner) 20 plates with heaps of numbered illustrations, price list at the end. A few minor corrections to prices, etc. in contemporary ink. A foolscap 1934 notice from the NZ agents (Oldham & Co.) inserted. Au$100
A New Zealand copy but there was a time, anywhere in the British Empire, that you wouldn't need to visit more than three neighbours to see a fine array of Lawton Ware: book ends, figurines, a bust of Beethoven ...
Catalogue - bicycles. Leonard Gundle Motor Co. Carrier Cycles [cover title]. Birmingham [c1936]. 15x23cm publisher's printed wrapper with split pins; 29 illustrated sheets printed on one side, numbered to 25 with a couple of gaps and some bis and clearly complete. Rather good in a ragged but complete printed envelope postmarked February 1936 and addressed to a Birmingham recipient. Au$100
Working bikes for the most part - milk floats and ice cream carts are the most elaborate - with carriers and fittings for all trades needing to shift things with pedal power.
Cassandre. Catalogue - wine. Establissements Nicolas. Liste des Grands Vins Fins 1936. Paris, Nicolas (printed by Draeger) [1936]. Small quarto publisher's colour illustrated wrapper, plastic spiral bound; 54pp including endpapers, some double folded leaves carry four page numbers, Design, decorations decorations and typography by Cassandre. Corner bumped. Au$110
The wine merchants of wine merchants, Nicolas, produced these catalogues of their great wines annually from 1927 to 1973. 1936 is more extensive and stately than its immediate neighbours.
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