EHON DON KIHOUTE de SERIZAWA Keisuke - 1936

1936. SERIZAWA Keisuke. EHON DON KIHOUTE. Mukomachi: Sunward Press, Showa 11 [1936] #19 of 25 of 100cc. 28.7 x 20.7 cm String-bound Japanese style in lacquered, printed paper covers, done by Suzuki Shigeo. Enclosed in the publisher's patterned cloth-covered chitsu clasped case. Perhaps the finest and most important Creative Print Movement illustrated book of the 20th century and a cornerstone for any collection of Japanese ehon. The Japanese colophon inside the book reveals this example was part of an extra 25 copies printed specifically to be shipped abroad. The book was commissioned by Carl T. Keller, the collector of Don Quixote material and illustrated with 31 hand-colored "stencil-engravings" [katazome], by the master Serizawa, later named a Living National Treasure. The covers, being lacquered, are subject to cracking with any use. This copy is amazingly unblemished, with only the slightest cracking along the hinge line. The chitsu case is complete and very clean with the original clasps. A lovely production, virtually unobtainable, in remarkable condition.