Ugetsu Monogatari [Tales of Moonlight and Rain]

£2,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Sekino Junichiro’s take on the great classic, the Ugetsu Monogatari or Tales of Moonlight and Rain , beautifully illustrated with copperplate etchings. This is an extraordinarily sumptuous book to have printed in 1944, at the height of War. The present copy is in especially fine condition. Curiously, a previous owner has placed letterpress printed sheets of paper as tissue guards. Written by author and poet Ueda Akinari (pen name Senshi Kijin, 1734-1809), the Ugetsu Monogatari was first published in five volumes in 1776. Widely regarded as a landmark book in Japanese literature, the book comprises nine chilling stories of the supernatural that were adapted from classical Chinese tales. Sekino Junichiro (1914-1988) was one of the leading figures of sosaku-hanga . He was born in the very north of Japan, in Aomori, then moved south and became involved in sosaku-hanga groups, including the Ichimoku-kai ‘First Thursday Society’. Unusually for artists of the time, Sekino was very multi disciplinary, being accomplished in a wide range of printing methods. He was a student of the great Onchi Koshiro (1891-1955) and later taught in art universities across America. He printed a number of limited edition books in woodblock, stencil, etching and collaborated with fellow artists too, such as the illustrator Takei Takeo. The present title is a fine example of his skill has a printer. Sekino had a fascination with the supernatural, and many of of books explore this theme. He was also fond o

• Binding: Hardcover

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