Bungakusha to naru ho [trans: How to become a Literary Scholar]

[By Sanmonjiya Kinpira]. One folding colored woodcut frontis. & woodcuts in the text. 1 p.l., 186 pp., one leaf of colophon. 8vo, orig. decorated wrappers, preserved in its orig. envelope. Tokyo: Yubunsha, 1894. First edition of this witty and vicious satire of the literary world by Uchida (1868-1929), a leading writer of "social novels" in which the author criticized corruption, sexual excesses of the upper classes, etc. The fine folding colored frontispiece by Kiyochika Kobayashi - an outstanding example of nishiki-e - is also deeply satirical. Fine copy. (Inventory #: 4784)