Author/compiler: Unknown. Imprint: Edo, Sudō Gonbē, Genroku 9, 1696. Kanki on last folio verso reads: 元禄九丙子歳卯月吉祥日 ／ 江戸橋中通川瀬石町山口屋 ／ 須藤權兵衞開版. Description: 2 kan, 2 satsu, bound in 1 vol. (western style). (上) ff. [18]; (下) ff. [20] (folios unnumbered, except in arbitrary fashion at inner edge adjoining spine). 26.9 x 18.4 cm. Fukurotoji. Blockprint. Printing frame 21.8 x 16.2 cm. Single-line borders. No printed hanshin. Hiragana-majiri text with printed furigana. Text and illustration combined on every page. Original pale-buff covers (lacking back cover of satsu 下), within a western-style half-leather binding. Renewed title slips on left, lettered in a Meiji period hand. Gedai: Sanjūrokkasen Genroku-ban 三十六歌仙 元錄 (ママ) 版乾 (坤). No naidai. Title from gedai. Edition: This is the only edition between the Saga-bon of Keichō period and the edition illustrated by Katsukawa Shunshō 勝川春章, published in 1789. Preface signed Tōsenshi 桃仙子. Contents: Selected poems and portraits of the Thirty-six Poets, beginning with Kakinomoto no Hitomaro 柿本人麻呂 and ending with Nakatsukasa 中務. Opposite each portrait and poem appears a brief biographical note on the poet, a comment on the poem and a scene from it.
Sanjūrokkasen 三十六歌仙
This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections
- Reference
- GB 59 Or.64.c.19
- Dates of Creation
- 1696
- Language of Material
- Japanese
- Physical Description
- 1 volume Condition: Poor. Much damaged by worming and water stains. Front cover bound in upside-down. Signs of erroneous sewing along fore-edge of leaves in maki 上. Impression: An early impression, sharp and clear. Illustrations: Portrait of each poet (and text of one of his poems) on each folio, recto or verso, and a sumizuri woodcut illustrating the poem on the opposite page. Illustrations unsigned but reliably attributed to Hishikawa Moronobu 菱川師宣. Seals of ownership: Small oval seal, Ōhashi 大橋 (seal of Ōhashi Nagayoshi 長嘉), and small round seal, Magao 眞顔 (seal of Kitagawa Magao 北川眞顔) on first and last pages.
Scope and Content
Access Information
Not Public Record(s)
Unrestricted
Acquisition Information
Acquired from William Anderson, 21 March 1894.
Other Finding Aids
Kenneth Gardner, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese books in the British Library printed before 1700 (London and Tenri, 1993). C. Japanese works 和書 7. Literature - poetry 国文-詩歌 b. Waka 和歌
Bibliography
Descriptive catalogue of Japanese and Chinese illustrated books in the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute of Chicago , pp. 111-2.