Ranpu no uta [Song of the lamp]

£850 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A beautiful little poetry book by Kawakami Sumio on one of his favourite subjects: lamps. Kawakami had a lifelong fascination with lamps. Growing up in Yokohama, a bustling port city, he saw lots of foreign goods in shops as they were being imported. At home his family owned both Japanese and Western-style lamps and as an adult he developed his own collection of antique examples. Though Kawakami is most known for his print-making, he was also a talented poet and many of his books combine his elegant writing style with paired-back woodblock illustrations. In the present book, Kawakami has written a nostalgic poem of his memories with lamps; how they remind him of his mother and grandmother, and the way they would cast large, scary shadows. This particular copy bears a woodblock printed bookplate with a lamp design which reads ‘ex libris Hirose’. This is from the collection of Hirose Eichi (dates unknown) was a well-respected bibliophile who had bookplates printed by some of the leading artists of the day, including Sato Yonejiro (1915–2001) and Nakata Kazuo (1907-1938). It is rather nice that he chose a lamp-themed bookplate for this book in his collection. Very rare. No copies in OCLC.

• Binding: Hardcover

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