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Shiiji Tajima (Editor)
Ogawa, K:
Selected Relics of Japanese Art, (20 Volume Set) Nippon Shimbi Kyokwai - Zenkyoan, Kenninji, Shimokyoku - (The Shimbi Shoin), Kyoto/Tokyo, 1899~1908, folio (19 x 13 in - 49 x 34 cm), 20 volumes, double folded leaves (collotypes), bound Japanese style, decorated stiff paper wraps, purple silk threads, two edges gilt (top & bottom), 987 plates (899 black and white collotypes (8 foldout) and 88 color woodcuts), approximately 1782+ pages in total. There is a two page English introduction by Ernest F. Fenollosa in Volume 1. The non-foldout collotype plates are on thin wove rice type paper which is folded over a sheet of thicker backing paper. The foldout collotype plates are on thick paper. Woodcut plates are on thick paper. Each plate (or unit of plates when similar plates were grouped together by the editor) is protected by a tissue guard with text in English and Japanese which describes the art and artist and the source/location of the relic. The art in the first 6 volumes was photographed and collotyped by K. Ogawa (279 plates). Volumes 1-19 were printed at the Tokyo Tsukiji Type Foundry. Each paper wraps volume came with a protective mat finish folding slipcase (grass or grass like covering) with ivory clasps.

The series presents reproductions of Japanese art relics from the earliest times up to the end of the Tokugawa Era from collections in Buddhist Temples in Nara and Kyoto and held in private hands. The entire series was published over the 10 year period from 1898~1908. According to the Wenckstern bibliography of the Japanese Empire (Volume II), the entire set of 20 volumes was anticipated to sell for Y390 in the regular edition format. An edition with silk covers was said to be sold for Y490. This was a very expensive set, even when newly issued. According to my calculations the set would have cost the equivalent of $3,402 in 2004 dollars. To see how I came up with this rather remarkable figure, click here. Wenckstern also contains a comprehensive index (15 pages) of the first 10 volumes of the set.