A Pair of Late Edo Period Wood Block Printed Story Book: Richly Illustrated

1850s
7" x 4 1/12", 17.75 cm x 11.5 cm

This is a pair of quite worn and abraded small and slender books of around 10 double-sided pages. They are richly illustrated with black-and-white woodblock prints said to be by the famous ukiyo-e master, Utagawa Kunisada. The book is so slender that it feels almost like a pamphlet in the hand due to its size and relatively light weight.

The books' front covers are printed in lavishly detailed colors while the back cover is of one deep black tone with some writing in red ink.  What is fascinating is that on the cover of the book on the left we see an offset impression of a triangle shape. When looking at the back cover of the book on the right we see the exact same shape, so these two books were stacked one on top of the other for storage. The binding is still intact and is done with cotton thread.

This book is a joy to behold and is a treasure to page through: the exuberance of dramatic life in Japan's Edo period is enlivened through the black-and-white illustrations and text of this small-scale but meticulously illustrated story book. The black-and-white illustrations in this book are of a fairly faint impression and in it you will see hand drawn lines and some hand writing from its previous owner.

In very used condition this book is a delight and a treat for the eyes and imagination.