[Rarebooks] OFFER: JAPANESE JUVENILE BY A FAMOUS NOVELIST FIRST EDITION, 1812.

[Laderman]

BAKIN, TAKIZAWA; Illustrated by GYOKUZAN OKADA:  JITSUGOKYU ESHO.[ 
CRYING OUT THE REAL NAME- OR, POINTING TO THE TRUE MORALITY] Osaka, 
Bunka 9 (1812).  36 leavies [72 Pp.] of which 64 pages are 
illustrated. There is a humorous woodcut on nearly every page after 
the 2 sheet introduction, or the colophon. Iwanami, Kokusho Mokuroku, 
KSM 218644. For Okada, see Roberts P. 36. He was a well known Osaka 
Uki'yoye artist, but had also studied with Tsukioka Settei and 
Shitomi Kangetsu, and had studied several other traditions on his 
own. He was the foremost book illustrator of Osaka. He also attained 
the rank of Hokkyo, which was unusual for an Uki'oye artist, and was 
the highest honor which could be bestowed on a painter. Bakin was a 
very well known novelist, about the equivalent of Dickens or 
Thackeray. This is a humorous moralizing Buddhist childrens' book. 
The illustrations remain charming and even funny, today. They usually 
take up the upper two thirds of the page. They are not Ukiyoye, but 
seem closer to Shijo [school of brush stroke painting from nature]. 
Below are the texts the children were expected to read. Around the 
illustrations, in the background are the small letters which were 
expected to be read by the teacher.  The last illustration in the 
book shows such a class, the students sitting in a rough semicircle 
with their teacher in front of them holding a clapper to get 
attention, and reading from a book on a stand. One of the children 
also has a visible book. I have been unable to find a copy in the 
west. Not in Brown, Javal, Ryerson, BM 1898, 1904, NYPL, Vever. Brown 
does discuss him on P. 69, and does mention another title with 
similar content. Typically well read Japanese books are thumbed and 
become age stained in the lower left hand corner. This often affects 
the pictures. In this case that corner has only quite large letters 
which are not injured. But there is a bit of age staining at the 
bottom of the sheets and in the corner. There also is a very small 
amount of scribbling, usually in a light gray wash in the upper blank 
border, but once, only, in the picture space.  A few pictures have 
been delicately touched up with a very light wash of red in very 
small locations. The title slip and title page are manuscript copies, 
as often is the case in Japanese books. There is no worming and the 
pages are other wise pure white. The gray wrappers are worn and 
stained, but serviceable and sturdy. $1750.00

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