Covers. The covers on this book are the standard "types and views" covers found on K. Ogawa's collotype books of this period. On the outside they are lithographed in color with a repeating pattern concentric overlapping half circles, stylized clouds with leaves inside and breaking waves in silver. The inside of the covers have a two color butterfly pattern. Approximately 2 1/2 inchs of the head and foot of the spine are covered with a blue cloth fabric.

Dating the Book. As is typical of most of the K. Ogawa "Celebrated Types of Japan" collotype books, there is no title page or colophon for this book to assist in dating. In his Bibliography of the Japanese Empire, 1894-1906, Wenckstern, describes this book as:

Geishas, Celebrated, of Tokio, 105 portraits on 9 plates, collotype edition with silk cover (yen 6.--), edition in photo engraving (yen 1.50)

In the absence of definitive evidence to the contrary, I have placed the date as approximately 1895 based upon the Wenckstern listing. It appears that in addition to a deluxe edition (silk cover) and an economy edition (photo engraved) noted above, there was this version in stiff card wraps (not with a silk cover) and with collotype plates (not photo engraved).

The Ryuounkaku. The Ryounkaku opened in Meiji 23 (1890). In July of 1891 an exhibition of 100 portraits of Geisha was held at the newly opened Ryounkaku. Ogawa produced albumen photographs for that event. It is very likely that some of these images were exhibited as colored albumen prints at this exhibition. Visitors at the exhibit voted on the most popular geisha. The winner of the vote was "O-Tama" from the Tamagawaya geisha house in Shinbashi.

Other K. Ogawa Geisha Related Books. Three other K. Ogawa books (perhaps more) were subsequently published on the topic of Geishas. Celebrated Geishas of Tokyo, ca 1892, contained 12 collotype plates with one geisha per plate. Geishas of Osaka and Kyoto, ca 1895 contained collotype plates. Geisha of Tokyo, Hyaku Bijin - Japanese title: [Tokyo Hayaku Bijin] (One Hundred Beauties of Tokyo), 1902 contained collotype plates, probably most were two per page with the Geisha's name in English and Japanese. These later books were also produced in much less expensive half-tone printing versions.

For information on Kazumasa Ogawa, click here.

Plate 1.

 
Plate 2.

 
Plate 3.

 
Plate 4.

 
Plate 5.

 
Plate 6.

 
Plate 7.

 
Plate 8.

 
Plate 9.

 
Geisha (Name & District) Depicted on the 9 Plates
(Links are to images of same Geisha found in the 12 plate book)

Plate 1
1. Kotoji of Shinbashi
2. Momotaro of Shinbashi
3. Azuma of Shinbashi
4. Wakaroku of Shinbashi
5. Kinshi of Shinbashi
6. Haruko of Shinbashi
7. Shimekichi of Shinbashi
8. Kofuyu of Shinbashi
9. Koichi of Shinbashi
10. Kotatsu of Shinbashi
11. Mameko of Shinbashi
12. Aiko of Shinbashi

    Plate 2

13. Tamiji of Shinbashi
14. Momoko of Shinbashi
15. Kotoyo of Shinbashi
16. Kotsuma of Shinbashi
17. Yachiyoko of Shinbashi
18. Tonko of Shinbashi
19. Tamakiku of Shinbashi
20. Okaji of Shinbashi
21. Kocho of Shinbashi
22. Kotaka of Shinbashi
23. Tomomatsu of Shinbashi
24. Tatsuko of Shinbashi

    Plate 3

25. Kofuyu of Yoshicho
26. Hamako of Shinbashi
27. Omachi of Nihonbashi
28. Hanakichi of Yanakibashi
29. Otowa of Nihonbashi
30. Omaru of Shinbashi
31. Kikurio of Shinbashi
32. Yakko of Yoshicho
33. Kofumi of Shinbashi
34. Tamaye of Nihonbashi
35. Koyei of Yanakibashi
36. Manssai of Shinbashi

    Plate 4

37. Koroku of Shinbashi
38. Kohana of Nihonbashi
39. Osuzu of Shinbashi
40. Kotsuru of Yanagibashi
41. Koteru of Nihonbashi
42. Kokame of Nihonbashi
43. Sanko of Yoshicho
44. Kinshi of Yoshicho
45. Shigematsu of Yoshicho
46. Komura of Shinbashi
47. Kikuka of Shinbashi
48. Oshun of Yoshicho

    Plate 5

49. Kofusa of Shinbashi
50. Tamako of Yanagibashi
51. Koteru of Yoshicho
52. Okin of Yoshiwara
53. Otatsu of Yoshiwara
54. Hanaji of Yoshiwara
55. Kameko of Yoshiwara
56. Omitsu of Yoshiwara
57. Oshiju of Shitaya
58. Momotaro of Kobusho
59. Tsurumatsu of Shitaya
60. Komaru of Kobnsho

    Plate 6

61. Tsumako of Shinbashi
62. Koyakko of Shinbashi
63. Oyen of Shinbashi
64. Katsuji of Shinbashi
65. Kosei of Nihonbashi
66. Tamaye of Shinbashi
67. Yamato of Shinbashi
68. Tokumatsu of Shinbashi
69. Kinnosuke of Shinbashi
70. Ariko of Shinbashi
71. Osoyo of Shinbashi
72. Ochiyo of Shinbashi

    Plate 7

73. Kinsuke of Yanagibashi
74. Fukusuke of Nihonbashi
75. Komume of Asakusa
76. Okiyo of Asakusa
77. Oriu of Yanagibashi
78. Kotake of Yanagibishi
79. Kochiyo of Shitaya
80. Fukusuke of Shitaya
81. Okaru of Yanagibashi
82. Kioto of Yanagibashi
83. Koman of Shinbashi
84. Fukuju of Shitaya

    Plate 8

85. Yayeji of Shinbashi
86. Kouta of Nihonbashi
87. Kinpachi of Yanagibashi
88. Kichiya of Shinbashi
89. Kimiyo of Shinbashi
90. Koyakko of Yoshicho
91. Shimeko of Yoshicho
92. Teiko of Yanagibashi
93. Kokiku of Yoshicho
94. Kokane of Yanagibashi
95. Otama of Yanagibashi
96. Kotsume of Yanagibashi

    Plate 9

97. Adakichi of Akasaka
98. Koshizu of Yoshiwara
99. Koyuki of Shinbashi
100. Nobushin of Yoshiwara
101. Oshin of Nihonbashi
102. Oine of Shitaya
103. Onao of Yoshiwara
104. Omine of Akasaka
105. Kohana of Akasaka

• Size & Format. Large 4to/Small Folio (11 3/4 x 16 in - 30 x 40.5 cm) size in Western style horizontal format reading from front to back. Crepe paper books are smaller.

• Covers and Bindings.
  • Front and back covers.
    
    The covers are made from a thick card stock type paper. On the outside they are lithographed in colors (gray/beige background with black, white, light and dark green and silver) with a repeating pattern of concentric overlapping half circles, stylized clouds with leaves inside and breaking waves in silver. The inside of the covers have a two color butterfly pattern.
    

     
    Variety Covers
    

    
    One book has been examined (Views of Tokyo, 1895) which is a variant from the norm. It is roughly 90% of the width and approximately 55% of the length (10 1/8 x 6 3/4 in - 25.5 x 17.4 cm) of the regular versions.

     
    

  • Double string ties. The covers have two double string type ties that are usually tied in a cross type pattern in the front. The crossed ties end in tassels. Occasionally the ties are not crossed in the front and these do not have a tassel.
    

  • Spines. Thicker books have a fabric type covering protecting the entire spine. On the thinner books there is sometimes a fabric strip (usually dark blue) covering approximately 2 1/2 inches at the head and foot of the spine. These spine covers are delicate and breakup easily and the norm is for them to be missing or badly deteriorated.
    

  • Title. The book title is lithographed in bamboo stylized lettering in a title box on the front cover which is framed by two silver lines. "K. Ogawa" is identified as the photographer, "Tokyo, Japan" is the location and the titles generally state "In Collotype & From Photographic Negatives Taken by Him." If the book has descriptive text, the author of that text is identified. Where not all the photographs were take by K. Ogawa it merely states "In Collotype." Some books were distributed by "Sole Agents" and that is stated along with the name and location of the agent.
    

• Collotype Plates.
  • The plates were manufactured by the collotype process. This is a high quality mechanical process capable of creating sharp images with a wide variety of tones. For more information on the collotype printing process, click here.

  • Black and White versus Color Images. As a general rule the plates are printed in black and white. Occasionally they are hand colored. I am unaware of a book of this type where the plates were actually printed mechanically in color using a multi pass collotype process as you see in the Ogawa flower collotypes in the Brinkley books of 1897-1898. The few color plates found in this series of books are hand colored.

  • Descriptive Titles. Plates generally have a descriptive title in English placed at the foot of the image. In some cases the descriptive title is printed on the tissue guard protecting the plate and not on the plate. The descriptive titles on the plates were applied in a separate letter type printing process from the collotype process that created the actual image on the plate. On the back you often see the indentations where the title was impressed on the plate.

  • Paper Color and Thickness. The paper color of the collotype plates in this series is brown/tannish. The thickness is similar to a thin index card. While the paper is not limp, it bends very easily. Below is a relative color comparison of various papers found in this and other Ogawa collotype plates.

    1. Types and View books
    (1892-6)

    2. Landscape Gardening Supplement (1893)

    3. Sights and Scenes in Fair Japan (1910)

    4. Bright white paper for comparison

    Composite view
    

   
  

• Collotype / Phototype. The titles generally state the plates are "In Collotype" but with some books the term "In Phototype" is used. Occasionally, the same book can be found (Celebrated Geysha of Tokyo, 12 plate version, for instance) where covers with either of the terms are found. In the context of Ogawa books "collotype" and "phototype" are synonymous. The term "phototype" is the French word for the collotype. The term was used primarily in Europe but collotype quickly became the preferred designation. I suppose it is possible that for books intended for export to Europe the title used the term phototype.

• Colophons. Except in cases where a book had an author who wrote the descriptive text, colophons are generally not found with the books. However, I believe that most of the books were actually issued with Japanese language colophon slips inserted loose at the back of the book. The lack of these slips is what makes these books hard to date precisely. These colophon inserts are on thin paper and most of them probably became separated from the books over the years. I have seen one slip that was actually tipped to the inside back cover. Below is an example of a colophon insert slip.
  Costumes & Customs in Japan, Vol I and II
  
  Printed: Meiji 28(1895).6.21
  Distributed: Meiji 28(1895).6.25

  Books where there is an author who wrote the descriptive text generally have a Japanese language colophon printed on the inside back cover. Below is an example of this type of colophon.

  Sights and Scenes on The Tokaido
  
  Meiji 25(1892).5.11

• Color Wooblock Inserts. Infrequently the larger format books (11 3/4 x 16 in - 30 x 40.5 cm) are found color woodblock inserts giving the title. These measure (12 x 15 3/4 in - 30.5 x 40 cm). They are placed in loose at the front of the volume. Since these inserts are wider than the book, they are folded on the right side 1 1/2 inches to fit under the covers. These inserts are printed on high quality paper. They are double fold with the paper sealed in the middle at the back. They bear a color woodblock image of a cherry tree in bloom. The name of the book is printed at the middle left. The inserts are found with and without the Kelly & Walsh imprint and address (No. 61, Main Street, Yokohama) and the statement "Sole Agents.". I have confirmed these inserts in editions of Japanese Life (Kelly Walsh imprint), and Customs and Costumes, Vol II (No Kelly Walsh imprint). It is my experience that these inserts are seldom found with the book. Below are examples of these inserts.
  
  

• Crepe Paper Books. During the period from 1892~1918 Ogawa published a series of books all titled Illustrations of Japanese Life. There were four different books with the same title. These books were on crepe paper and contained color collotype plates. These books have covers patterned along the same lines as the standard types and views covers found on the non-crepe books. Below is a picture of a cover from one of these crepe paper books.
  

  For more information on these books, click here.