EDO MEISHO ZUE 江戶名所図會 20 vols

1836. Hasegawa Settan 長谷川雪旦, artist; Saitou Choushuu 斎藤長秋, et al. EDO MEISHO ZUE 江戶名所図會 20 vols. Suharaya Mohei & Suharaya Ihachi. Edo, Osaka & Kyoto, Tempou 7 [1836]. Oohon, 25.7 x 18.0 cm Original covers and title labels with some wear... Internally clean with fair to good impressions in sumi throughout. All in two large clasped chitsu cases. This work has an interesting back story. Saitou Choushuu worked for eight years on compiling the information about the great city, at the time one of the largest in the world, as it still is today. When he died in 1799 his son-in-law and then his grandson continued his work. In the 1830s, the artist Hasegawa (truncated) Settan created over 600 images to accompany the text and it was published to great popularity.

It helped to create a demand for such guidebooks, which flourished as a genre in late Edo. Certainly for that reason, not a rare book. But considering it was printed well over 170 years ago, the existence of handsome sets in good condition is not an everyday event. A remarkable record of Japan before Perry. (Inventory #: 91157)