Boston Preview IV: Selected Japanese Items

Our preview week for this weekend's Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair continues today with several Japanese items from Boston Book Company:

1) Shinpan Ehon Don Kihoute, illustrated and signed artist Keisuke Serizawa. This large color stencil printed "ehon" of Don Quixote was published in 1976 and is today considered a masterpiece of Japanese livre d'artiste book production. Thirty-one full-page illustrations. 1 of only 185 copies. $4500.

2) A turned wooden pagoda shaped container with a printed Dharani Buddhist charm inside.  The charm, part of the Hyakumantô [One Million Pagodas] devotional project, is considered one of the first examples of printing that can be accurately dated. Japanese Empress Shôtoku called for the Hyakumantô to commence in 764 AD, with the entire project completed six years later. $22,500.

3) Kamisaka Sekka's Momoyogusa, printed in 1909-10, with 60 double-page color-printed woodblocks printed and overprinted using opaque and metallic inks to create a particular surface. The work is considered one of the finest Japanese design books of all time and this copy is an early impression with wood grain showing in many of the prints.  $38,500.