Twelve Woodcut Prints of Kitagawa Utamaro Illustrating the Process of Silk Culture

San Francisco: Book Club of California; Grabhorn Press, 1965. Limited edition. Hardcover. Near fine. Folio. [i-xiv] [1-22] pp. Quarter parchment with green and light-green decorated paper boards, title in gilt on spine, title-page in black, green and yellow, opening initial letter of the introductory essay in green and yellow, twelve numbered color plates (not included in pagination) from the collection of Edwin and Irma Grabhorn. Finely printed letterpress in handset Goudy Modern type, machine made paper. One of 450 unnumbered copies. Light soil at the center of the spine else this is a fine copy.

The Book Club of California's publication (truncated) for Christmas 1965. Presents the pictures of Kitagawa Utamaro (1783-1806), an eighteenth-century Japanese artist that dealt with the process of silk culture, and the handiwork of women who were responsible for all aspects of making silk. The images together form one continuous composition, and are known as the "Silkworm Series".

BCC no. 121; Grabhorn Bibliography, Volume III, no. 652. (Inventory #: 21764)