Hiroshige's Journey in the 60-Odd Provinces (Famous Japanese Print Series) Paperback – June 1, 2004

Illustrations not as striking as in some of the volumes I've purchased recently, but colors generally good, with good descriptions of the various sites. Includes some detail on seals that I don't think I've seen before. I will learn from this and am happy to add it to my collection.

I have spent many hours with this book in my lap, paging through it and trying to imagine the artistic genius that translated tales of these somewhat far away places into this collection of sometimes otherworldly, sometimes extreme, and sometimes very ordinary landscapes that, subject combined with color, create such a mood of calm and beauty for me. This is the best book of the several I have of Hiroshige's art. I am not educated in Japanese block printing, but Hiroshige's choice of subject matter and color pallete somehow really resonate with me.

Well made book, surreal pictures, intense in color, very enjoyable.

Gorgeous book, with outstanding print quality. Some of the prints I was hoping to see from the Provinces series were not in the book, and I personally would have made other choices. But the quality is tops.

There are too few book editions of the print series of Hiroshige. There are a few books featuring his "100 Views of Edo" such as the excellent one by Uspensky which I own; a smallish paperback version of the first edition of "53 Stations of the Tokaido" by Muneshige Narazaki; and a book featuring his early bird and flower prints. This book by Marije Jansen is a fine and welcome addition to the few books we have. The book illustrates Hiroshige's "Rokujuyoshu Meisho Zue", "The Famous Views of Sixty-odd Provinces", meaning "more than sixty provinces". The prints featured are from the first edition set owned by Professor Gerhard Pulverer, and were once owned by Frank Lloyd Wright. The introduction features the ubiquitous biography of Hiroshige, followed by an overview of his well known landscape series, an overview of the Provinces series illustrated, a discussion of the format used, later editions of the series, and an explanation regarding the Pulverer prints. After the introduction, there is a map of Japan showing the locations of every print in the series. The map, and the accompanying key on the opposite page, show that the prints were arranged geographically. The main body of the book has explanatory text and images on the left hand pages, with a full page print from the series on the right. There are 70 prints. These include the table of contents print, 68 prints of the Provinces, and a print of the capital Edo (#17). The author gives a brief explanation of each print and what it depicts. A great deal of research has been done on the historical, artistic, and literary background of each scene. In the upper left of the text page there is factual information on the date, the censors, the block-cutter, and the publisher. The location of the various seals is explained for every print. At the bottom of every text page is a smaller version of the print keyed to a description of how later editions degraded in quality. These include things like poorer colors, missing colors, loss of wood grain, etc. There are usually 10-12 items described per print. This is invaluable for collectors and artists studying wood block printing. Unlike his prints of the Edo and Fuji environs, and his Tokaido series, Hiroshige did not visit all the locations shown. He was one of the first Japanese landscape artists who actually did make prints from sketches of places he actually visited. It was customary for artists to use the sketches or verbal descriptions of others to make prints, and many of the prints in this series were taken from the guidebook "Sansui Kikan" by Fuchigami Kyokko (26 of the prints), as well as other sources. The prints are wonderful however. The images are large and beautiful, and this book will give you many hours of enjoyment. You'll want to look through the prints again and again. I know I do.

Loved the selection and quality of the prints. Great as a gift to someone who is interested in the subject

Ho trovato questo libro molto ben fatto.Le riproduzioni sono bellissime e ognuna e' dettagliatamente ed analiticamente spiegata.Lo consiglio vivamente

the book is totally wonderful! completely met my expectations. i couldn"t be happier with it or the service.

Lovely book

Beautiful book

Rispetto ad altri volumi del genere è certo meno raffinato, la carta patinata non rende pienamente giustizia ai lavori del grande Hiroshige, pur essendo belle le dimensioni, ottimi i colori. L'assetto occidentale del volume toglie un pò preziosità, rispetto a quelli editi ad esempio dalla casa editrice Hazan. Rimane un'opera da avere senz'altro, anche per l'ottimo rapporto qualità prezzo.

The illustrations were all very good (taking into account they had to be reduced) with good color clarity. The Notes on each woodcut were excellent. I love Hiroshige and Hokusai, as inspirational compositionists.

Un aspect de Hiroshige qu'on connait moins malgré la célébrité des estampes.Pas d'ouvrage en langue française évidemment.Ne jamais hésiter à rechercher les livres en anglais tres faciles à lire (avec un minimum de langue et de vocabulaire ) et d'excellente facture car les auteurs recherchent les meilleures séries d'espampes (donc les toutes premières) pour rendre compte de l'estampe japonaise.Hélas on ne dispose plus de livre de plus grand format qui permette d'"entrer" dans le paysage ;Le papier n'est pas non plus celui d'une estampe. Je ne boude pas mon plaisir devant cet ouvrage qui est solide malgré son aspect broché. On peut acheter sans crainte d'être déçu je pense.