A Thousand Seedlings of the Arts (Textile Patterns) Vol 1 & 2, 1893 / Hironobu
By Hironobu Asai.
This antique first edition Japanese creation features approximately 600 images of Japanese dyeing and weaving patterns in the late 19th century… if we’ve done our research correctly.
The two volumes of four hole-punch bound books of 62 pages each feature three images per page throughout most of the books, with images of textile designs which one source said were ‘new patterns’ in the late 1800s. We believe the images were printed by copperplate.
Included are Sarasa (calico) patterns used to decorate cotton first introduced by the Portuguese in the 1600s. The Japanese reinvented Sarasa to create lighter weight cloth covers and later adapted them to summer kimonos. According to kimonoboy.com, hand produced sarasa fabrication ended by the turn of the century (after 1900) with the introduction of high production European textile manufacturing machinery into Japan.
The characters on the cover translate to ‘A Thousand Seedlings of the Arts’ or ‘Seeds of Art Chigusa’, by artist Hironobu Asai, in old Kanji.
Author Hironobu Asai of Kyoto City was a great student of textile designs, going on to publish several more pattern books over the next ten years. The books were published and printed by renowned art and design publisher Yamada Naosaburo in 1893 (Meiji 24), according to the back cover.
Ours are not in perfect condition. Volume 1 has serious spotting on the cover, some damage to cover in the upper right binding, and the first page is peeling off the back of the front cover. Volume 1 has less noticeable discoloration on the cover. The inner pages are in good vintage condition.
We found only Volume 2 online - on eBay, the seller asking $ 259.
H 3 1/8” x L 7 1/4” x D 1/2”
Disclaimer: We have tried to make sure colors shown in photos are representative of the real colors of each item. We have tried to identify all imperfections in descriptions, but we may have missed some. If you are unhappy with your purchase, let us know.