NIHON-ICHI NO E-BANASHI 5 vols

1911. [CHILDREN'S] Nakanishiya, publisher. NIHON-ICHI NO E-BANASHI 5 vols. Published in Meiji 44, Taisho^ Gan-nen [1911] 12.9 x 7.4 cm. Each small volume is wonderfully illustrated in a proto Deco style by some of the most important designers of the day..... Sugiura Hisui, Okano Sakae, and Kobayashi Sho^kichi. The author of these slight tales geared to a very young audience and written all in katakana was the novelist Iwaya Sazanami. Quite a group of talented artists, indeed. It is difficult to understand how these lovely little books could be as rare as they are.... But, the Osaka Prefectural Library claims to have the only full set of 35 in institutional hands. Suffice it to say the National Diet Libray has but 8 volumes and when a reprint was done in the 70s, only 6 were redone.... A very fragile construction it would seem..... and the prints being so lovely and the binding so weak, one must assume there were many volumes broken through the years. At the moment there is not one volume of the original series being offered for sale in Japan that we can find. Each volume is collated identically: The front cover is illustrated in color woodcut.... and each has a double page illustration to the front and rear endpapers..... followed by a one page frontis piece, the title page with publication data, 3 single page illustrations facing a page of text, a double page illustration, 4 single page illustrations with facing text, a double page illustration, 4 single page illustrations facing text, a double page illustration, 3 single page illustrations facing text and the double page illustrated rear endpaper.... So, overall the front cover, endpapers and 15 internal single and 3 double page illustrations in color woodcut. (Almost certainly "kikai-zuri" meaning the carved blocks were printed by machine, not by hand.) The titles we have are: NEZUMI [MICE] RYUUGU MEGURI [THE PALACE OF URASHIMA TARO] POCHI NO GEIZUKUSHI [A DOG'S LIFE] USAGI NO SEKAI [THE WORLD OF RABBITS] SHIMA MEGURI [ISLAND LIFE] The illustrations are just wonderful.... The condition throughout is remarkable..... All together a total of 25 double page and 80 single. (Inventory #: 91259)