JAPANESE NATURAL INDUSTRY ILLUSTRATED., KIMURA KOKYO; SHITOMI KANGETSU (ARTIST).

Nihon Sankai meisan zue [Illustrations of the Noted Products of Land and Sea]. Osaka: Kansai 11 [1799, but possibly later].

KIMURA KOKYO; SHITOMI KANGETSU (ARTIST). Nihon Sankai meisan zue [Illustrations of the Noted Products of Land and Sea]. Osaka: Kansai 11 [1799, but possibly later].

5 volumes. 8vo (255 x 180 mm). 76 woodcuts, most double page. Original blue paper wrappers, embossed with a mountain and sea motif, stitched, original title labels pasted on, some soiling to covers, light moisture stain to lower margin of vol 2 (not affecting text).
Provenance: Julian C. Wright, gifted to the Library of the University of California at Los Angeles (bookplate, withdrawn stamps); Richard C. Rudolph (1909-2003); Jeremy Norman, A Collection of Early Japanese Medical Works from Richard C. Rudolph's Personal Library, item 17, 2006.

Beautifully illustrated and rare, this work depicts the production and harvesting of Japanese natural resources, beginning with the production of sake, which comprises the entirety of volume one. Volume two is dedicated to the mountain products, including bee-keeping, hunting and trapping, and the quarrying of stone. Volumes 3 & 4 focus on the fishing and marine industries, and volume 5 illustrates the manufacture of lime, the production of Imari pottery, and weaving and cotton. The book is remarkable for its extraordinary detail in both image and text.