青楼美人合姿鏡|A Mirror of Yoshiwara Beauties

Katsukawa Shunshō 勝川春章|Zuga Kankō-kai

1916 (reprint edition) · Woodblock printed book (Japanese-style binding), ink and color on paper · Asian Art

The Met acquired one of the finest known first editions of this volume when it brought in the entire collection of the Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow Collection of Japanese illustrated books in 2013. This much later modern printing is simply a work for studying how the awareness of a rare edition of a highly sought after book was kept alive in modern times through the printing of a popular edition. In this day and age, we can easily make digital reproductions of books, but even in the early twentieth century, publishers often resorted to the labor intensive means of woodblock printing to create new editions of famous books.

Artist

Katsukawa Shunshō 勝川春章|Zuga Kankō-kai

Date

1916 (reprint edition)

Medium

Woodblock printed book (Japanese-style binding), ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Anita V. Beenk, 2016