• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

SOLD

Réf : 79477

Set an alert

A question about this book?

Add to my virtual collection

KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI

Hokusai Manga. Volume 9

Hanabusaya Heikichi, Edo [Tokyo] 1819, 15,9x22,5cm, cousu.

Rare edition, which can be translated as Hokusai's Sketches, volume 9. 15 volumes were actually published covering Hokusai's work. The first was published in 1815 and the last posthumously in 1878. The final volume is considered apocryphal by some art historians. The volume contains 34 subjects, most on double-page spreads in black, grey and flesh. It is essential to add that it is impossible to determine whether this is the first or a later print run, because in this respect there was no difference for the Japanese, and the publisher reprinted volumes as needed, the notion of a first print run being irrelevant to the Japanese book. We do know, however, that the publisher produced editions of this book between 1819 and 1878.
Accordion-fold volume, bound by a seam. Grey cover with title label. Small corner folds on 5 leaves. Soiling to covers. A good copy.
Hokusai manga deal with a variety of subjects, including scenes of everyday life, war scenes, typically Japanese legends, animals and flowers. It is generally considered that, after a period of intense production, Hokusai selected his sketches very carefully, and even redrew a number of them, arranging them in the order we know today. However, Michener maintains that the layout of the various sketches on a given plate was in fact decided by the engravers and publishers, and not by Hokusai himself. It should be remembered that the Japanese printmaking technique is very close to the original drawing, since the ink drawing was affixed to a piece of wood that the engraver carved out, precisely following the lines of the drawing, which was itself destroyed in the process.

• 
• 
• 
•