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Princeton University Library
Marquand Library of
Art & Archaeology -
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ABOUT: Welcome to Marquand Library's blog highlighting our rare book collection and all things visual. Our staff are delighted to share our growing collections and we invite guest contributions from those who use our materials for teaching and research.
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First Marquand Library of Art & Archaeology c.1908 -
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NEW RARE BOOK
OF THE WEEK! -

African American Art Today: Four Major Artists / an exhibition of paintings and sculpture by Skunder Boghossian, Valente Malangatana, Twins Seven Seven, and Amir I.M. Nour. New York:, African-American Institute, 1974. -
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BLOG ARCHIVE
- Chronicling Disaster in Mid-19th century Japan
- Catherine Perrot: An Early Treatise on Miniature Painting
- Before Ruscha?: All the Buildings on Amsterdam’s Canal Streets…ca. 1768
- Art Between the Wars: “Seikigun” and Experiments in ‘Synthetic Art’
- A Medieval Woman Artist and Musician at Work: The Gradual of Gisela von Kerssenbrock
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Tag Archives: Woodblock prints
Public and Private Sides of the Kabuki Actor
Woodblock-printed books and single-sheet prints related to the kabuki theatre were in high demand during the Edo period (1615-1868). It is estimated that more than a third of all woodblock prints published during this era were “kabuki prints” (kabuki-e). Like … Continue reading
Posted in East Asian, Japanese, Japanese, Rare monograph
Tagged 19th century, actors, Asian Art, Edo period, Japanese, Kabuki, Katsukawa Shunsho, portrait, Utagawa Kunisada, Utagawa Toyokuni, Woodblock prints, woodblock-printed books, Yakusha
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JAPANESE ‘POP-UP’ TEA HOUSES: Chaseki okoshiezu
As early as the seventeenth century–long before there was 3-D computer-modeling for home renovations on HGTV–Japanese carpenters (architects) created detailed three-dimensional paper models of famous tea houses, designed by the great tea masters of the past. Sakata Sakujirō,Chaseki okoshiezu [Folding-drawing … Continue reading
Posted in Rare monograph
Tagged 19th century, 20th century, Architecture, Asian Art, Edo period, Japanese, Meiji period, Models, Pop-up models, Taisho period, Tea, Tea ceremony, Woodblock prints
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AMERIKA 101
We all remember that classic tale of George Washington as a young boy—no, not the one about him chopping down the cherry tree—the one where he met with the Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512) on a balcony overlooking a random … Continue reading
Posted in Rare monograph
Tagged 19th century, American Revolution, Amerigo Vespucci, Asian Art, Christopher Columbus, Edo period, George Washington, Gyokuransai Sadahide, Gyountei Sadahide, Japanese, Queen Isabella, Simon Bolivar, Utagawa Sadahide, Woodblock prints, woodblock-printed books, Yokohama
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ON DAZZLING JAPAN AND EUROPE IN THE 19TH CENTURY
In 1804, when the book Picture Book Annual Events of the Green Houses (Seirō ehon nenjū gyōji) was published in Japan, who would have guessed that ninety years later it would take Europe by storm? However, by 1891, this two-volume … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, Rare monograph
Tagged 19th century, Asian Art, Edmond de Goncourt, Edo period, Hayashi Tadamasa, Japanese, Jippensha Ikkū, Kitagawa Utamaro, Woodblock prints, woodblock-printed books, Yoshiwara
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Banned Books: Kunisada’s “Tales of Genji”
Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864) is often considered the leading woodblock print artist of the 19th century. A “superstar” in his own time, much of his fame and popularity can be credited to his beautiful and dynamic book illustrations parodying the classic … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, Rare monograph
Tagged 19th century, Asian Art, banned books, Edo period, erotica, Genji monogatari, Japanese, Mitsuuji, Nise Murasaki inaka Genji, Rustic Genji, shunga, Utagawa Kunisada, Woodblock prints, woodblock-printed books, wrapper
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1950s Woodcuts and Artists’ Exchanges
Marquand recently acquired an inscribed first edition copy of Huang Yongyu mu ke ji 黃永玉木刻集 , a survey of the best of Huang’s early printmaking work. Although Huang is perhaps best known internationally for later ink paintings of flora and … Continue reading
Posted in Chinese, East Asian, Rare monograph
Tagged 1950s, 20th century, Asian Art, China-Europe connections, Chinese Art, dedications to artists, Huang Yongyu, Jaroslav Bejček, socialist realism, Woodblock prints
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‘BIRD WATCHING’: Kitao Masayoshi’s “Illustrated Book of Birds from Abroad” (1793)
Colorful birds on flowering branches fill the pages of a recent acquisition to Marquand Library’s Japanese rare book collection. The serene beauty of its illustrations, however, belies a rather scurrilous publishing history. Illustrated Book of Birds from Abroad [Kaihaku raikin … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, Rare monograph
Tagged 18th century, Birds, Edo period, Keisai, Kitagawa Utamaro, Kitao Masayoshi, Kiyo Ishosai Shusen, mokkotsu, Nagasaki, Woodblock prints, woodblock-printed books
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SOMETHING FISHY
New to the Marquand Library is the extremely rare Bounty from the Sea (Umi no sachi), one of Japan’s earliest color-printed books. The artist, Katsuma Ryūsui1 (1711-1796), though rarely credited in the history of the Japanese woodblock print, was experimenting … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, Japanese, Rare monograph
Tagged 18th century, Edo period, Fish, haiku, Hayashi Tadamasa, Katsuma Ryūsai, printing, Sea creatures, Woodblock prints, woodblock-printed books, woodbock printing
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THE SUBLIME WORK OF TAKEUCHI SEIHO (1864-1942)
Marqund Library recently acquired the beautiful Seiho ippinshū [The Sublime Work of Seiho] (1935-36), which has been called “one of the most magnificent printing achievements of the twentieth century.”[1] It is not actually a “book,” but a luxurious set of … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, Japanese, Rare monograph
Tagged 20th century, Collotype, Showa, Takeuchi Seiho, Woodblock prints
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An Unusual “Tōkaidō Road Acquisition”
“Adventure was promised to those who traveled the three-hundred-mile-long Tōkaidō Road, which linked Japan’s modern capital, Edo (present-day Tokyo), with the ancient imperial capital at Kyoto from the seventeenth though early twentieth century. For more than three centuries, illustrated books … Continue reading
Posted in Japanese, Japanese, Rare monograph
Tagged bunken ezu, early 20th century, Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, Tokaido bunken ezu, Tokaido gojusan tsugi, Tokaido Road, Woodblock prints, woodblock-printed handscroll
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