Title: Hokusai Manga, Circa 1880-1900. A Beautiful Manuscript Edition of the Complete Sketch Collection by Hokusai, in Black Ink, Lovingly Recreating Every Illustration. Over 800 Greatly Detailed Pages of Illustrations in Fifteen Volumes
Author: After Katsushika Hokusai
Condition: Very Good
A Meiji Period, late 19th century manuscript edition of the Hokusai Manga, being the complete sketch collection of beautiful woodblock illustrations by Katsushika Hokusai. There are over 800 pages of illustrations, and the unnamed copyist who produced these manuscripts does not falter in lovingly recreating every single page and grouping of illustrations in black ink. From the double page illustrations of crowds of revelry, to demonic yokai and fantastical monsters, powerful deities, and more, every single page from the original work, printed inscriptions and all, has been copied to the best of the copyist’s rather talented skills. Even the beautiful landscapes have been fully recreated, and this copyist clearly has had some skill in Nanga painting, as they have done a good job of copying the vast mountainscapes and sweeping vistas.
At the beginning of the fifteenth and final volume, there is a copied inscription by the original publisher Katano Toshiro, dated to the month of July, Meiji 11, or 1878. This points to this being the fifteenth edition and also helps to date the manuscript as being no earlier than that imprint.
15 manuscripts in quarto (24.5 x 16.9 cm), 27, 30, 28, 29, 28, 27, 29, 29, 29, 28, 28, 29, 29, 29, 29 leaves
These manuscripts are in very good shape, with some soiling and staining to the covers, heavier to volume 14. The covers to volumes 5 and 10 are somewhat wormed to the top, with a few pages affected internally, and the ties to volume 6 are lacking, rendering the text block as a loose collection of leaves. There is minor, scattered staining throughout, with a few scattered wormtracks.