Kokka - (國華 "Flower of the Nation" - 1928 - Utamaro, Tani Buncho, Shokado, various - 日本

Here for auction 12 volumes of Kokka magazine 國華 , a full year of 1928 (Kokka no. 446-457). Each volume has superb collotype reproductions and 1 woodblock print. (12 woodblock prints in total). The prewar numbers are extremely sought upon due to the high woodblock print quality and the rarity. At the time, a lot of wealthy collectors and National Museum itself contributed with rare masterpieces from their collections to be recarved and reproduced. English contents list is included.

In particular the Utamaro and Tani Buncho prints ("A beauty" and "Fuji") are not available anywhere online

None of the woodblock prints presented are available online.

Kokka (國華) (lit. 'Flower of the Nation') is a periodical of East Asian art, first issued in October 1889. Kokka was established by Okakura Tenshin, journalist Takahashi Kenzō (高橋健三), and a patron of the arts who sought to challenge the primacy of Western art in Meiji Japan. Kokka is published in Japanese, with contents and some summaries in English. In 1905 an English-language edition was also published. A pioneer of collotype printing in Japan, the publication is renowned for the quality of its images and woodblock prints.

A lot of collotype reproductions (full plates)

Condition is mint. No tears no worm holes, a very few minor foxing on the back of mounting plates (none affect the prints itselves). These were bound in a single volume per year by the previous owner.

Up until 1973, each number contained 1 or 2 woodblock prints.
From its inception in 1889 to shortly after World War II, most issues of the Kokka contain one or more original woodcuts, either bound in or tipped in. They are gradually phased out and the last woodcut in this chronological collection of the Kokka is in issue 964 (1973). Tissue interleaves are bound in adjacent to all plates, both woodcuts and collotypes, until 1905. After this they are bound in only with colour plates, woodcut or otherwise, and at this time printed text captions are added onto the interleaves.

more info here: https://www.janecarnegie.com/kokka_magazine.html

Shipping insured and express by DPD/FedEx/UPS. Heavy volumes (4.5 kg). Reaching anywhere in EU & US in 4-6 days.