Japanese Wood-Block Printing by Yoshida, Hiroshi - 0

Hardback. Very Good/Fair. Sanseido Company Ltd., Tokyo and Osaka, 1939, only edition; 4o, pp xi, [ii], 136; light brown raw silk covers decorated and titled in red; dust wrapper, which carries a design of a Japanese print key block, somewhat frayed or torn but the book itself in very good condition; frontispiece, 12 plates and 26 other illustrations some as full page plates and others in the text. Yoshida, 1876-1950, is considered one of the greatest of modern Japanese print artists and a leading exponent of work done in the shin-hanga style, "new woodblock prints", the early 20th century movement that was so powerful in revitalising the Japanese print tradition, working with the collaborative approach of the earlier print makers (where the artist, carver, printer and publisher worked together rather than where the artist was the sole functionary and creator of the print). The book, rare in good and complete condition, is essentially a practical manual for producing traditional Japanese prints and dealing with matters such as preliminary drawings, sketches and outlines, suitable wood for blocks, preparation and use of the baren, brushes, paper, pigments and more. Some prints are analysed and a print of a junk is shown in progressive development to both the final version and a special version. These two prints mentioned, as well as the frontispiece of cherry blossoms in front of a Japanese castle are titled and signed in pencil by Yoshida. There is also a list of Yoshida's prints, 220 in total.