Kono Bairei, “Sky”, volume 1 of “Picture Book of Hundreds of Birds”, 1881

Kono Naotoyo Bairei (幸野楳嶺) (aka Choando; Hoppo; Kakurokuen; Kinsen Charryo; Koun Shinsho; Kumo no Ie; Musei Shioku; Nyoi Shansho; Rokuryu; Sanshu Kashitsu; Seika Zembo; Seiryukan; Shijun; Shumpuro; Zaigoan) (1844–1895)

“Sky” (天 [Ten/Tyen]), 1881, the first volume of “Bairei's Picture Book of Hundreds of Birds” (aka “Bairei Hyakuchô Gafu”), featuring 36 different birds depicted on 43 pages. Baxley Stamps (George C. Baxley) offers an online view of all the pages of this volume and a description of the volume; see http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/meiji/bairei_1881.shtml#ten.

Size: 24.6 x 16.5 x 1 cm.

Condition: the outer covers show wear with handling marks, but the internal plates are mostly in an excellent condition with no tears or significant stains.

I am selling this complete volume of extraordinarily fine colour woodblock prints for AU$737 in total (currently US$496.73/EUR454.51/GBP380.24 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU$737) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this rare and amazingly complete volume of woodblock prints, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Note that this is the second copy of this volume that I have listed. The previous copy has been sold.

Kono Bairei’s complete 1st volume, “Picture Book of Hundreds of Birds”, 1881.

Please see the page-by-page video of this book of 43 colour woodblock prints showing on my Instagram Gallery: https://www.instagram.com/printsandprinciples/

Kono Naotoyo Bairei (幸野楳嶺) (aka Choando; Hoppo; Kakurokuen; Kinsen Charryo; Koun Shinsho; Kumo no Ie; Musei Shioku; Nyoi Shansho; Rokuryu; Sanshu Kashitsu; Seika Zembo; Seiryukan; Shijun; Shumpuro; Zaigoan) (1844–1895)

“Sky” (天 [Ten/Tyen]), 1881, the first volume of “Bairei's Picture Book of Hundreds of Birds” (aka “Bairei Hyakuchô Gafu”), featuring 36 different birds depicted on 43 pages. Baxley Stamps (George C. Baxley) offers an online view of all the pages of this volume and a description of the volume; see http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/meiji/bairei_1881.shtml#ten

Size: 24.7 x 16.5 x 1 cm.

Condition: the outer covers show significant wear with handling marks, but the internal plates are in an excellent/near pristine condition with no tears, losses or stains. The binding is still holding at the upper and lower holes, but the middle binding strings are missing/broken.

I am selling this complete volume of extraordinarily fine colour woodblock prints, for AU$737 (currently US$484.59/EUR445.97/GBP381.48 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing this rare and amazingly complete volume of woodblock prints, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This volume has been sold

Kono Naotoyo Bairei’s woodblock prints, “Plate 30: Hibiscus” & “Plate 31: Daylily”, 1890

Kono Naotoyo Bairei (幸野楳嶺) (1844–1895)

“Plate 30: Hibiscus” and “Plate 31: Daylily”, 1890, published by Tanaka Jihei (and later by Yamada Unsodo) in Kyoto (Kyoto-shi) in the four-volume series of 200 woodcuts, “Chigusa no Hana” 千種の花 (Flowers of a Thousand Varieties). I understand that that these impressions are from the first colour edition and that there was a black and white edition published in 1889. (Note that there may be inaccuracies in my description and I apologise if this is the case.)

Colour woodblock prints on fine buff washi paper.

Size: (each sheet) 23.8 x 15 cm.

Condition: both sheets are strong and well-printed impressions in near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this pair of original polychrome woodblock prints for a total cost of AU$300 (currently US$201.19/EUR193.66/GBP167.52 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing these masterworks of colour woodblock printing from the late 1800s, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Kono Bairei’s woodblock diptychs, “Mynah Bird” & “Goering's Cymbidium and Silver Pheasants”, 1881

Kono Naotoyo Bairei (幸野楳嶺) (aka Choando; Hoppo; Kakurokuen; Kinsen Charryo; Koun Shinsho; Kumo no Ie; Musei Shioku; Nyoi Shansho; Rokuryu; Sanshu Kashitsu; Seika Zembo; Seiryukan; Shijun; Shumpuro; Zaigoan) (1844–1895)

(upper diptych) “Mynah Bird” (aka “Kiukuhan”), 1881, 24.9 x 30.7 cm (sheet)

(lower diptych) “Goering's Cymbidium and Silver Pheasants” (aka “Shirakiji [White pheasant]), 1881, 24.9 x 30.9 cm (sheet)

Two joined double-panel/page polychrome woodblock prints (i.e. four plates in total), 1881, published in Tokyo between 1881 and 1884 in “Bairei Hyakuchô Gafu: Chi” (Bairei's Album Of One Hundred Birds [& Flowers]: Ground/Earth) (楳嶺百鳥畫譜), vol. 2 (see the full set of plates and descriptions featured in vol. 2 at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia): https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/254.1989.a-z/).

Four woodblock panels printed in three colours abutted and glued as two diptychs backed on separate support sheets of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. Each disptych is stamped with Bairei’s red-cinnabar Hanko seal and descriptive text. Note that where any printed text would have been concealed by the joining process, the text has been repositioned so that it may be seen. Note also that there are minor restored (infilled) holes on both sheets.

I am selling this pair of original polychrome woodblock printed dipytchs (four prints in total) for a total cost of AU$400 (currently US$304.34/EUR259.61/GBP221.56 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing these masterworks of colour woodblock printing from the late 1800s, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Kono Bairei’s two-panel woodcut

Kono Bairei’s two-panel woodcut 

Kono Naotoyo Bairei (Aliases: Choando; Hoppo; Kakurokuen; Kinsen Charryo; Koun Shinsho; Kumo no Ie; Musei Shioku; Nyoi Shansho; Rokuryu; Sanshu Kashitsu; Seika Zembo; Seiryukan; Shijun; Shumpuro; Zaigoan) (1844–95)

“Bird at a Stream” (descriptive title only) (diptych), 1890

from ehon [book], Bairei Hyakucho Gafu Zokuhen [Album of 100 birds], 1890

colour woodcut

(each sheet) 24.7 x 16.6 cm

Condition: both panels are crisp impressions and the paper is in good condition (considering the age of the prints). The right panel has two dot specks in the margin. Each of the two panels has four pin holes from their original binding.

I am selling both prints (i.e. the two panels of the diptych) for a total cost of [deleted] at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing these original woodcut prints by Kono Bairei, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

I can imagine that some viewers—hopefully not too many—would prefer to see the wonderful two-panel woodcuts by Bairei trimmed, glued and abutted so that the two panels can be seen as a single uninterrupted image (as shown in my digital abutment above). Often in the marketplace Bairei's prints—like this fine pair—are merged with glue to satisfy such a desire. For me, however, the trimming and gluing of Bairei’s prints is a shame, as they were originally designed to be two facing pages in a bound book that, when opened, would appear as a single image.

From my standpoint, the borderlines separating a viewer’s reading of the two panels is not a significant hurdle impacting upon looking at the prints. In fact, I believe that the borderlines may even help to articulate a viewer’s reading, in the sense that the visual interruption posed by the borderlines helps to slow down a viewer’s reading.