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Shiba Kokan
Gasu Sairtan, 1803
2288

10 5/8 x 6 7/8 in. (27 x 17.5 cm)

see chapter 36 in Hillier. Shiba Kokan was the outstandiing adventurous spirit in the period of discipline and restriction. He lived from 1738 to 1818 and had a fearlessly inquiring mind. As artist he was the pioneer of copper engraving in Japan, and much influenced by European printing. As a cartographer he produced Japan's first engraved map of the world, on two sheets [a copy of this exists at Culham]. As a scientist he was fascinated by Copernicus and explained his discoveries with text and woodcut. As traveler he disobeyed the rules and made long journeys of inquiry and investigation in Japan. On the present work in five volumes it is simplest to quote from David Chibbett, History of Japanese Printing and Illustration: 'His one major book was Seiyu ryodan, a collection of sketches from his travels, which he published, apparently at his own expense in five volumes in 1790. Revised and enlarged editions of this same work were subsequently published under the titles Gazu seiyu ryodan (1803) and Seiyu nikki (6 vols. 1815). All three works were substantially the same with interesting studies not only of Japanese landscapes (where the use of Western perspective is noticeable) but also various activities of the Dutch, with special emphasis on Dutch sea vessels and whale-hunting'. Here is a fine copy of the 1803 publication, the 'western journey' of Shiba Kokan - his long trek through Japan to Nagasaki. It is an account of his travels with many woodcut illustrations. In the third volume his adventures include the sharing of a whaling expedition, shown in some detail in the woodcuts. We see the shape of the harpoons as well as the closing-in of the small boats, the exceedingly dangerous operation, the beached whale, the carving-up of his carcass, the lugging-away and processing in a factory of the chunks of whale for making oil. Volume four is mostly topographical but also shows a few games, dances and the festival procession with carnival floats in the street. In the last volume we reach the author's climax in the recording of Dutch armament, shipping and merchant life at Nagasaki, and a panoramic view of the enclosed Dutch settlement. We see the strange dress of these western visitors, and an often-reproduced double-page woodcut of the merchant's house with his Dutch chairs and his paintings and chandelier; and a Dutch tombstone in the final pages. This was all heady stuff at the time, forbidden, secret and adventurous. Original blue covers and title labels.

Price Upon Request

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Tachibana Morikuni
Ompitsu Soga, 1749
2317

10 3/8 x 7 1/8 in. (26.5 x 18 cm)

3 volumes complete. A book dealing with So (cursive or coarse brushwork), and introducing, if not for the first time, then for the first time on such a systematic scale, new methods in preparing woodblocks to convey total effects on ink-painting, not by black outlines or by lines in white reserve, but by roughening the surface of the wood to produce a scumbling, almost mezzotint-like effect, and by lowering certain areas, which then painted more faintly than the remainder of the block with the connivance, of course, of the printer, who was responsible for the degree of pressure applied to the barren used for “burnishing off” the proof. Jack Hillier, “Art of the Japanese Book” (1987), pg. 191.

Price Upon Request

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Matthew Zucker & Pia Östlund
Capturing Nature: 150 Years of Nature Printing, 2023

About the Book

A landmark visual exploration of nature printing, featuring 45 different techniques and hundreds of astonishing rare images.

Hailed as the earliest precursor to photography, nature printing is the practice of using impressions from the surface of a natural object such as leaves, flowering plants, ferns, seaweed, snakes, and more to produce an image. Author Matthew Zucker has spent decades curating the most extensive collection of nature prints ever assembled, with more than 13,000 images across 120 rare and seminal works, including journals, published books, unique manuscripts, American currency, and instructional texts related to nature printing from 1733 to 1902.

This gorgeous volume explores Zucker's collection, allowing readers to see these nature prints presented side by side for the first time and enabling unique comparisons while creating a visually stunning journey through the developments over a 150-year period in printing methods, including photography with examples of cyanotypes. The ultimate guide to nature printing, this is a beautiful reference work for scholars, artists, designers, botanists, and anyone interested in nature, botanical illustration, and printing.

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About the Authors

Matthew Zucker founded Zucker Art Books in 2006 with the publication of Dieter Roth in Print: Artists' Books. With one foot anchored in antiquarian books, Matthew stepped with the other into contemporary books, continuing to publish commissioned artists' projects and multiples, as well as organizing focused exhibitions highlighting rare examples of an artist's output. He lives in Berkshire County, Massachusetts.

Pia Östlund is a Swedish researcher, writer, designer and printmaker based in London. Pia has revived a lost nature printing process not used since the nineteenth century to create intricate, lifelike images of plants on paper. Since 2001, she has been a consultant to Chelsea Physic Garden, London, and Oxford Botanic Garden.

Matthew Zucker & Pia Östlund, Capturing Nature, 2022
2022

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Matthew Zucker & Pia Östlund
Capturing Nature, 2022, 2022
13217

(33 x 23.2 x 2.8 cm)

$250

Edited by Matthew Zucker & Pia Östlund
With contributions by: Harry Willis Fleming, Nicole Hanquart & Régine Fabri, Naomi Hume, Jessica C. Linker, Adam Lowe, Pia Östlund, Harriet Rix and Michele Rodda
Published by Zucker Art Books, New York
Edition of 500 copies
Size: 9.22 x 13 x 1 Inches, 232 x 330 x 28mm
Page count: 352 pages plus a 7 page timeline-leporello with 726 color images
Binding: Paperback with 2 blind embossed nature prints
Photography by Martin Slivka, London
Concept and design by Haller Brun in Amsterdam

Hailed as the earliest precursor to photography, nature printing is the practice of using impressions from the surface of a natural object such as leaves, flowering plants, ferns, seaweed, snakes and more to produce an image. The Zucker Collection is the most extensive collection of nature prints ever assembled, with more than 13,000 images across 130 rare and seminal works, including journals, published books, unique manuscripts, American Currency, and instructional texts related to nature printing from 1733 to 1902.

For the first time, readers will be able to see these nature prints presented side by side, enabling unique comparisons while creating a visually stunning journey through the developments over a 150 year period in printing methods including photography with examples of cyanotypes. Capturing Nature is the ultimate guide to Nature Printing, and a beautiful reference work for scholars, artists, designers, botanists, and anyone interested in nature, botanical illustration, and printing.

Designed by Haller Brun in Amsterdam with 360 pages with 726 color pictures bound in a double blind embossed….

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