Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller - Old and Rare Books

京都 Kyoto [PORTFOLIO W/ 30 LOOSE PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATES]

Hori, Masumi (堀真澄 撮影, photography by)

Kyoto (京都): Kyoto City Hall (京都市役所), n.d. [ca. 1921?]. First edition. Hardcover. Oblong quarto. 30 loose plates. Housed in a yellow cloth portfolio, with bone fasteners. White label with text in Japanese and English in black lettering pasted on the front cover. Silver-speckled interior flaps

This extremely scarce undated Taisho-era photographic collection was created by the government of the City of Kyoto for promotional purposes and was never for sale. The portfolio is comprised of 30 loose plates of beautiful high quality b/w collotype images showing famous sites from around the Kyoto area, each measuring 11x 14 1/4". Each image is protected by a tissue guard, with printed bilingual text in Japanese and English, including a title, number and a short single-paragraph description.

Places shown include the Imperial Palace (京都御所), Fushimi Inari-taisha (伏見稲荷大社), Sanjusangen-do (三十三間堂, Temple of thirty-three bays), Toyokuni Shrine (豊国神社), Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺), Yasaka Shrine (八坂神社), Sanjo Ohashi bridge (三条大橋), Cherry blossoms at Maruyama Park (円山公園), Ginkaku-ji (銀閣寺, "Temple of the Silver Pavilion"), Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺,'Temple of the Golden Pavilion'), Shimogamo Shrine (下鴨神社), the Arashiyama district (嵐山), the rapids on the The Hozu River (保津川, Hozugawa) and many others. Also shown are gatherings for festivals such as the Aoi Matsuri (葵祭), Jidai Matsuri (時代祭) and the Gion Matsuri (祇園祭), as well as images showing the Miyako Odori (都をどり).

The interior right flap contains a bilingual table of contents, and the interior middle flap contains publication information in Japanese.

Portfolio with light rubbing to extremities, as well as some minor scratches, smudges and/or stains. Interior clean. Minor age toning to the very edges of a few plates, with images unaffected, clean and vibrant throughout. The captioned tissue guard for the first plate is torn but still holding. The tissue guard for plate 26 is detached but present, with text unaffected. Portfolio in very good-, interior in very good+ condition overall. vg- to vg+. Item #53936

* Photography here is credited to Hori Masumi. This means the images here were likely taken by an unnamed photographer or group of photographers from the studio of the deceased Meiji-era Kyoto photographer Hori Masumi (1826-1880). The name of Hori Masumi continued to be credited for photography into at least the first decades of the 20th century, including much documentary photography work on behalf the city government of Kyoto.

Although undated it was published sometime in the Taisho era (1912-1926).

Price: $1,750.00