Bookplates in Japan
Tokyo: Meiji-Shobo, [1941, per OCLC]. 220/300 copies, distributed for sale, signed by the author and with his red chop mark. The publisher distributed fifty more as gifts. 50 examples mounted on loose sheets of handmade, laid paper with deckle edges, as issued; plus booklet of 11 single leaves bound loosely as issued with yellow string plus one more loose leaf. The whole housed in a lightweight, dull-orange board portfolio with cover and spine labels, and ties. Page size: approx. 21 x 18 cm. The booklet consists of a self-cover; the title leaf; the signed numbered colophon; a text of 7 numbered pages, "On the ex-libris," with 8 illustrations; 2 unnumbered leaves bearing 2 monochrome examples; plus 4 unumbered pages listing and identifying all 50 loose plates. Nine of the samples are monchrome; one is gold on black; the remainder are in at least two colors. I have placed at the very end a last single sheet bearing a droll drawing of a grinning teapot. The 50 plates were not only in random order when I first looked at the book, but they miraculously were all present. Perhaps it means, "Done, just in time for tea." This, in a country at war for years and whose leaders were about to make, within the year, a catastrophic blunder. The case is worn at the extremities with a little splitting at the seams and minor surface insect damage. Contents near fine. **Free domestic shipping with direct order. Item #54861
Price: $500.00