Choshunkaku Kansho. (Catalogue of the Kawasaki Collection) de Kawasaki, Shozo, & Yoshitaro Kawasaki (editors)

6 vols., with approx. 390 superb plates (30 in color, the others in photogravure on fine paper) accompanied by interleaved commentary on the objects, documenting the major collection of mostly Japanese, with some Chinese, art including paintings, lacquerwork, sculpture, ceramics, etc. Large folio. Silk-covered boards, elaborately tie-bound in the Japanese manner, each volume housed in chitsu case (most cases rubbed and chipped). Tokyo (Kokkasha) 1914. A complete set of the catalogue of a major collection put together at the turn of the 20th century; Choshunkaku is the name of the private museum established by Kawasaki Shozo, the founder of the Kawasaki Shipyard Company in Tokyo and Kobe who attained great wealth at the end of the 19th century. His adopted son, Kawasaki Yoshitaro, who is primarily responsible for compiling the present work, had to sell the collection in the 1930's. Notable for its plethora of masterpieces, some of which have appeared on the market in recent years, the catalogue remains a landmark work in the historiography of Japanese collections and is often the only source of information on individual masterworks. The work is lavishly produced and features some 30 superb color illustrations.