Konomeru Jisaku no E o Atsumete [A Selection of my Works that I like].

£4,800 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Kajiwara Keibun (dates unknown) was a noted member of the Naniwa Shashin Club and the Tenkyu-kai in Osaka. This beautifully themed book was privately published by the author in an unspecified but small limited edition. It contains introductions by Mori Ippei, Kometani Koro, and Kajiwara respectively. In his own introduction he states that he has been taking photographs since 1910 and that the present book shows his work over the last fourteen years. The title aptly expresses the new-found confidence of amateur photographers in Japan. Kajiwara seems to have travelled widely and the table of content gives the dates and locations for each image. In the first two decades of its history (founded in 1904) the Naniwa Shashin Club was steeped in Pictorialist photography. Kajiwara’s scenic views are particularly delicate, but some of the urban scenes and portraits are also remarkable. He used a number of differently coloured papers in the production of this book. We have not been able to establish the origins of the Asakura Shashin Kenkyu-bu, but assume that it was a pictorialist photography club. Extremely rare. Only one copy in OCLC.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.