Furuya K?rin ????, artist — K?Gei No Bi ????, 3 Vols

1908. K?gei No Bi ????, 3 vols Furuya K?rin ????, artist Uns?d? ???, publisher Kyoto: Meiji 41 [1908] [Design] 3 orihon folding albums, 32 X 22.5 cm, in paper over boards with integral printed title labels. The first printing of this set, as here, is very scarce and quite delightful - the 75 large double page designs in woodblock, employing karazuri ??(gauffrage), metallic inks, etc. represent a peak of the printing art as practiced by Uns?d? ??? at the time. Furuya K?rin ???? (1875-1910), the designer, is usually considered an equal to Kamisaka Sekka ???? and Kaigai Tennen ????, though this work and his remarkable SEIKA, are the only large format works by him we have seen. The designs are in an interesting format, often constrained to the shapes of pottery pieces, especially vases. The result is a remarkable demonstration of how two dimensional designs can be adapted to three dimensional shapes, here rendered, of course, in two dimensions once again. The printing is superb, the condition throughout good to very good, though there is occasional slight browning of the paper, as usual. In a later folding clasped chitsu case which preserves the original chitsu printed paper title label. .