Set of 12 Colour woodblock prints.

Hanshibon: 24,5 x 17,8 cm, ink and colour on paper, 12 double page illustrations with artist’s signature and seals, 1 table of contents (on fan shape illustration), 1 colophon on double page with title and details. (no binding, 12 separate double pages with central fold, partly with dust in the folds; all illustrated pages in good conditions, brilliant colours and silver, finely executed printing; original title stripe glued on separate lined cover page which is in a bad condition)

These prints of the series Gekkô Gahô are rarely found with exception of the images of the Mallard and the Sea Bream. Ogata Gekkô shows a variety of natural scenes, very much in the Maruyama Shijo style, in an outstanding level of finesse. He was pioneering here in the use of the sashiagi print technique which imitates the brush strokes of painting. The title of the print with horse and monkey is a play on words: "Ibashinen", a phrase that signifies being unable to control one's worldly desires and passions, literally means: "the mind of a horse with the heart of a monkey".
Ref. Freer and Sackler Galleries FSC-GR-780.472 [entire book].
Joined: History of the Empire of Japan. Tokyo, Dai Nippon tosho kabushiki kwaisha, 1893. 8vo. Grey silk covered boards (front board & spine lacking, lower board def., quires loose). Compl. with 1 fold. col. map, 2 fold. plans, 5 b/w collotype double-page pl., 11 full-page b/w woodblock pl., 18 b/w double-page woodbl. pl. and 5 colour double-page woodbl. pl. (2 vol.)