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[TSUTAYA JUZABURO^] Ishikawa Masamochi, author : EHON NIJU^YONKO^ 3 vols

[TSUTAYA JUZABURO^] Ishikawa Masamochi, author. EHON NIJU^YONKO^ 3 vols. Edo, Tsutaya Juzaburo^, Kansei 9 [1797]. String bound, fukuro toji, original covers and two of the three volumes have their original printed title labels. 22.7 x 16.0 cm. Mogi Hiroshi did the illustrations. This is a fascinating production, when you get under the surface of its origins. As is well-known, publisher and printer Tsutaya Juzaburo^ was perhaps the most important ukiyo-e figure of his time. By encouraging and publishing prints and ehon by the greatest ukiyoe artists of his day, and by treating their production with the skill they deserved, Tsutaya Juzaburo^ created a genre of elegance and great beauty. He had the misfortune to be caught up in the severe sumptuary regulations of the Kansei period. Arrested and placed in handcuffs under house arrest for months, he died soon after. This book, the PICTURE BOOK OF TWENTY-FOUR EXAMPLES OF FILIAL PIETY, appeared mere weeks before he died in May of 1797. One can only imagine this work in b+w woodblock, austere and moral, was meant to ingratiate Tsutaya with the stern Confucian moralists of the Kansei Bakufu censors' office. Really quite a nice production overall and a very sad story embodied in it. Good printing, very good condition. Complete, in a custom clasped chitsu case., Very Good

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