[Rarebooks] OFFER: GREAT, RARE, MEIJI, BIRD AND FLOWER ALBUM.

[Laderman]

KAN'EI, NISHIYAMA: KAN'EI GAFU (ALBUM OF DRAWINGS BY KAN'EI) I volume, 
[Folding volume (Gahon)] Osaka, Maekawa Zenbei, 1886 [Meiji 19]. 28.3 x 18 
cm. 29 sheets [unnumbered] Preface dated Meiji 19 [1886] Original covers 
light brown brocade with design of orchids. Original title slip printed in 
black on white slip with green parallel lines printed on the edges of the 
slip. Printed by woodblock throughout in color. All of the prints are 
sealed by Kan'ei, and the final illustration is also signed. Nishiyama 
Kan'ei is an artist of the purest Shijo line. He studied with his father, 
Nishiyama Ho'en, who was a student of Keibun, the younger brother and 
student of Matsumura Goshun, the founder of the Shijo School. Keibun, 
himself was most famous for his bird and flower paintings, as were both 
Ho'en and Kan'ei. This is, in fact, an album solely composed of bird and 
flower paintings of the greatest skill and the highest level of taste and 
charm. They are beautifully reproduced using the resources of the color 
printer to devise subtle and sensitive printings from the block carrying 
great nuances of performance. It is one of the finest of the later Shijo 
albums, if not the finest. It is also substantially larger than most of the 
later albums. It is also extremely rare in Japan and in the West. The only 
recorded copy in the West being that of the Mitchell collection, which he 
notes was obtained from Richard Lane, the collector/ dealer who lived in 
Kyoto for many of the years while Mitchell was in Tokyo. Both of them are 
now famous for the rarities they both were able to ferret out. There is 
thus no copy at the BM, in Ryerson, Guimet, BN, or in any European auction 
of the 20th century. This copy was Finely printed and is in lovely 
condition. There is just the slightest hint of worming on the front board 
and on the title slip. With a very slight sign of water stain on the outer 
rear board. The final sheet, pasted to the rear board, which continues the 
colophon with 2 short lines is crinkled. $2450.00

ZITA BOOKS / NEW YORK, N.Y. / G. LADERMAN
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