[Rarebooks] FS: 19th Century Japanese Album with 50 Hand-Colored Albumen Photographs

[Charles Agvent]

[JAPAN]. MEIJI PERIOD PHOTO ALBUM with 50 Hand-Colored Albumen 
Photographs. Oblong Folio (14" x 10-1/2") with a black morocco leather 
spine with gilt designs and exquisite black enamel painted and onlaid 
covers. Containing 50 hand-colored 10-1/4" x 7-3/4" albumen photographs 
laid down onto heavy cardboard pages titled in the negative in English 
and with small color drawings of figures in the margins of each page. 
Images include cityscapes, landmarks, and scenes of daily life and 
rituals in mid-to-late Meiji period Japan. Places shown include Tokyo, 
Kyoto, Yokohama, Nagoya, Enoshima, the shrines of Nikko, and two views 
of Mt. Fuji. Occupational scenes include women spinning cotton, men 
striking wheat, a rice plantation, men transporting rice bales on 
horseback, a samurai, a Shinto priest, Shinto pilgrims, a "blind 
shampooer," a pottery shop, a shoe shop, a grocery, a cloth store, 
"reading at home," "gathering the cocoons," "playing at ball," and more. 
Albums such as this were sold to overseas visitors to Japan, ca 1880s- 
early 1900s, who would choose their favorite scenes from the photography 
studio's stock and whether to pay extra for hand-coloring, fine binding, 
and artistic covers. We have offered a handful of examples over the 
years, and this is easily the finest in content, with more occupational 
and daily life scenes as opposed to the standard landmarks, as well as 
special touches such as the small hand-painted characters in the margins 
of each page, and also in the finest condition. Housed in a clamshell 
box with decorative cloth covers and likely the original tin container 
used for shipment to America. Photographs are Fine and bright with 
tissue guards. Both boxes in nice shape. The front cover of the album 
with a horizontal crack about 3 inches from the bottom and extending 
across most of the cover doing little to detract from the lovely 
decorative scene. Overall a beautiful example, uncommon in such nice 
condition. (#019217)        $6,000.00

https://www.charlesagvent.com/pages/books/019217/japan/meiji-period-photo-album-with-50-hand-colored-albumen-photographs

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CHARLES AGVENT

37 Ridge Drive

Fleetwood, PA 19522-9638

484-575-8825

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