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A couple of things about this print, recently tweeted by @cma_japanese, caught my eye. The print is by Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信, & is described as "The Courtesan (From A Collection of Beautiful Women of the Yoshiwara), 1770" [a thread, with questions]
#ukiyoe #printing
1/n
![A couple of things about this print, recently tweeted by @cma_japanese, caught my eye. The print is by Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信, & is described as "The Courtesan (From A Collection of Beautiful Women of the Yoshiwara), 1770" [a thread, with questions] #ukiyoe #printing1/n](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0rf4B6XsAEj9lZ.jpg "A couple of things about this print, recently tweeted by @cma_japanese, caught my eye. The print is by Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信, & is described as \"The Courtesan (From A Collection of Beautiful Women of the Yoshiwara), 1770\" [a thread, with questions] #ukiyoe #printing1/n")
#ukiyoe #printing
1/n
First off, it’s evidently a page cut from a book, so I was curious to learn more about the book. Second, as is generally true of Edo period pictorial prints, there’s text as well as image to read--and not just the inscribed poem, in this case...
2/n
2/n
Figured out the original book title via guesses in the NIJL database (tried kw: 美人合 plus auth: 鈴木春信): it’s _Ehon Seirō bijin awase_ 絵本青楼美人合 (5 vols). Published by Funaki Kasuke 舟木嘉助 et al. (Edo; Meiwa 7 /1770)
No digital copies listed in NIJL, but...
3/n
No digital copies listed in NIJL, but...
3/n
...happily there is a fine digital copy available in the NDL collection--also it's IIIF compatible!
https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1286776
The Cleveland print is in vol. 4, leaf 10 recto (leaf is numbered 58 五十八, as the book's numbering is cumulative)
So far so good.
4/n
https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1286776
The Cleveland print is in vol. 4, leaf 10 recto (leaf is numbered 58 五十八, as the book's numbering is cumulative)
So far so good.
4/n
Moving on to the other part of the original Cleveland print that got my attention: the courtesan depicted is reading a book, one volume in hand, two on the floor by her. The text in the book is unreadable scribble, but the book *title* is clear enough to read
5/n
5/n
She’s reading a book called _Nenashigusa_ ねなし草 -- presumably the famous kokkeibon (funny book) of that name by Hiraga Gennai 平賀源内, published in Hōreki 13 (1763). Definitely a choice suggesting wit & style!
6/n
6/n
Look through all 5 volumes of Harunobu's book, source of the Cleveland print, & you find other cases of images with identifiable reading matter. The print subjects are depicted engaged in some activity (music, writing, etc.), & the readers all seem to have unique texts
7/n
7/n
Here are some other examples, (& more in next tweet)
The British Museum (which has digitised vol. 3) notes, “The work is also a treasury of detail on the textiles and applied arts of the day.”
To which some of us just have to add:
¿What. About. The. BOOKS!?!
8/n
The British Museum (which has digitised vol. 3) notes, “The work is also a treasury of detail on the textiles and applied arts of the day.”
To which some of us just have to add:
¿What. About. The. BOOKS!?!
8/n
It would make a neat project, to track them all & build a virtual library.
Good to transcribe the poems, too, I guess, if that hasn’t been done--there are two modern facsimile editions [1915 and 1917] but no transcription, afaik.
Paging @ozu_mu: maybe you know of one?
/end
![It would make a neat project, to track them all & build a virtual library. Good to transcribe the poems, too, I guess, if that hasn’t been done--there are two modern facsimile editions [1915 and 1917] but no transcription, afaik.Paging @ozu_mu: maybe you know of one?/end](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0rn7-JXoAc4qBE.png "It would make a neat project, to track them all & build a virtual library. Good to transcribe the poems, too, I guess, if that hasn’t been done--there are two modern facsimile editions [1915 and 1917] but no transcription, afaik.Paging @ozu_mu: maybe you know of one?/end")
![It would make a neat project, to track them all & build a virtual library. Good to transcribe the poems, too, I guess, if that hasn’t been done--there are two modern facsimile editions [1915 and 1917] but no transcription, afaik.Paging @ozu_mu: maybe you know of one?/end](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0roZquXMAAo04w.png "It would make a neat project, to track them all & build a virtual library. Good to transcribe the poems, too, I guess, if that hasn’t been done--there are two modern facsimile editions [1915 and 1917] but no transcription, afaik.Paging @ozu_mu: maybe you know of one?/end")
![It would make a neat project, to track them all & build a virtual library. Good to transcribe the poems, too, I guess, if that hasn’t been done--there are two modern facsimile editions [1915 and 1917] but no transcription, afaik.Paging @ozu_mu: maybe you know of one?/end](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0rpS95WUAgnB0d.jpg "It would make a neat project, to track them all & build a virtual library. Good to transcribe the poems, too, I guess, if that hasn’t been done--there are two modern facsimile editions [1915 and 1917] but no transcription, afaik.Paging @ozu_mu: maybe you know of one?/end")
Good to transcribe the poems, too, I guess, if that hasn’t been done--there are two modern facsimile editions [1915 and 1917] but no transcription, afaik.
Paging @ozu_mu: maybe you know of one?
/end
Have to add a p.s. with one more reading -- Harunobu gets in a cheeky plug for one of his own books--Ehon ukiyobukuro 絵本浮世袋, newly published that same year!
Masters of product placement, these Edo book folks
#BookHistory
?end (no really, time for bed)
Masters of product placement, these Edo book folks
#BookHistory
?end (no really, time for bed)
