Posted by Gary G. on October 29, 1997 at 01:56:05:
In Reply to: Breaking books posted by Dick Illing on October 28, 1997 at 03:11:46:
: I suppose that those of us lucky enough to have decent copies of Hokusai's '100 views of Fuji' should welcome those who break them up an sell individual sheets as it makes those left rarer and more valuable. However the purist must protest at an act of apparent vandalism. I can understand the financial attraction, given the prices being obtained for the single pages. Comments please!
Thank you, Dr. Illing, for the first posting on our
new board. I am sure that it will stir up some discussion.
I can offer a dealer's slant on the subject...
"100 Views of Edo" was published in 3 volumes
and each print is truly a masterpiece of design in which
Hokusai shares an intimate moment with viewer. Each moment
or print stands alone, with its own story. Because the prints
are bookplates, they were not sold as single sheets at the
time of publishing, however, had there been a demand, they
most certainly would have been, as they often are now.
There is more interest than ever in Japanese prints
and great deal of demand for Hokusai. Few collectors
are in a position to acquire a nice print from the
"36 Views of Mt. Fuji" or even a good quality set of the
"100 Views of Mt. Fuji", but for a modest sum a
collector can own a beautifully designed original print by
Hokusai that in many respects rivals the designs costing $15,000
or more. Most collectors have favorites from the
series that they want to frame and are not interested in the entire set.
The demand is great and the opportunities to purchase are
few.
As for books in general, this was a convenient way to
organize and display printed material in the 19th century.
In the 20th century, Japanese prints were elevated to fine art
and the most popular way to display fine prints is mounted in frames.
Often books were put together by the original publisher, but many times
books were put together by a collector, the way we would put pictures
in a photo album.
Collector's often mention of Hiroshige that they would love to
have a fine "Kambara" or "Shono", etc (myself included). Rarely do they talk
about having a fine album of Tokaido. Mostly, because the
idea is pretty redicules. The most expensive Tokaido album that I know of
went for around $500,000. My assumption is that it is in a corporate vault
and nobody is enjoying the prints. Since the prints were published
as single sheets, as well, and since the album was simply a convenient method
of displaying a group of prints, why not offer Kambara to the
collector who will cherish the print and Shono to another collector
who is in love with that print and so on. To me, that is not vandalism
or cannibalism, but a more human approach to appreciating extraordinary
objects.