[Rarebooks] fs: Well-timed book on lacquer arts

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

Koizumi, G.  LACQUER WORK. A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION OF THE ART OF LACQUERING 
TOGETHER WITH VALUABLE NOTES FOR THE COLLECTOR.  London; Sir Isaac Pitman & 
Sons: 1923.

The first modern, practical, English-language guide to lacquering, written 
by a Japanese master of the craft, and published at the exact time that Art 
Deco designers and Japanese lacquer artists were teaming up to produce some 
of the 20th century's most luxurious decorative lacquer works.

This elegant book includes illustrations of the techniques employed, and 
also features collotype plates illustrating antique Eastern and Western 
examples from the V&A's collection. Both Koizumi, in his Introductory Note, 
and E.F. Strange, in his Foreword, address the issue of the various 
lacquering techniques and materials and their uses by various craftsmen. 
Additionally, Strange voices the hope that modern craftsmen and artists 
will make more use of lacquer to produce modern objects, a hope that was 
even then being answered by Art Deco designers including Eileen Gray and 
Jean Dunand, both of whom worked with Japanese artists.

Anna Jackson, writing in the recent exhibition catalog "Art Deco, 
1910-1939" (Bulfinch Press: 2003) notes that Art Deco designers were 
attracted to lacquer "not only by the craft of its production, but also by 
the richness, depth and sensuality of its surfaces... the interest in 
lacquer was part of a widespread taste for sumptuous surfaces and striking 
effects. Through its innovative use Art Deco designers absorbed and 
transformed a centuries-old East Asian medium into the essence of modernity".

Koizumi's book was published just as interest in this sensual medium was 
exploding in the West, and those great Art Deco masterpieces were being 
created.

Hardcover. 7.5"x10", 45 pages with 11 b/w illustrations, plus 36 b/w 
collotype plates; elaborate gilt-decorated black cloth covers; bookplate of 
art historian and Connoisseur magazine editor C. Reginald Grundy. Light 
soil, a little wear, but a nice copy.  [07347]  $125.00

The Covers->
<http://www.joslinhall.com/images07/th-07347.jpg>



JOSLIN HALL RARE BOOKS, ABAA
Fine books of the 16th-20th centuries
on the decorative and fine arts & design

Post Office Box 239
Northampton, Massachusetts 01060 USA
telephone (413) 247-5080

--> Subscribe to our free email News List and get special
      discounts and offers on selected books!
<http://joslinhall.com/mailman/listinfo/jhrbnews_joslinhall.com>

--> See our new "Just Catalogued" pages for March
<http://www.joslinhall.com/justcat.htm>

--> Stay up to date daily with our Bookselling blog
<http://foggygates.blogspot.com/>

--> Our full-service website features 86 separate subject
      categories, and has full search capabilities.
<http://www.joslinhall.com>

  ~~

TERMS:
All payments must be in U.S. funds and negotiable through a U.S. bank; We 
accept checks, money orders, American Express, Visa and Mastercard. Books 
may be reserved pending payment; Institutions may be billed; Standard 
courtesies to institutions and the trade; Postage charges are $5.00 for the 
first book, and $2.00 for each additional book. Shipments outside the U.S. 
will be billed at cost. We accept returns if we are notified within ten 
days of your receipt of the books-please ask for full instructions and 
terms. Massachusetts residents must add 5% state sales tax.

As members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America we are 
committed to upholding high professional standards and making sure your 
bookbuying experience is enjoyable.