lundi 25 juillet 2016

n°22, 雪月花三遊新話. 初輯, 1879








Text

Title:
  • 雪月花三遊新話. 初輯 (New Story of Setsugetsuka san'yu. 1st part)
Author(s):
  • Woodcuts designed (画) by Utagawa Yoshiharu (生田芳春)
  • Text written (著) by Shinoda Senka (篠田仙果)

Edition

Date:
  •  1879: Meiji era (明治), 12th year (十二年), May (五月), day of (the imperial feast?) (曰御届).
Issuer(s):
  • Published (出版人) by Kinzaburo Yamamura (山村金三郎).
    • Address: [Tokyo]淺草區吉野町六拾五番地.
  • Edited (編集者) by Shinoda Kyujiro?) (久次郎).
    • Address: [Tokyo]神田區仲町壹丁目六番地. 
Collation:
  • 3 volumes, 27ff = 57pp.
    • 1st volume (上): front cover (= 2pp), 9ff (numbered 1-9, = 18pp), back cover (= 2pp).
    • 2nd volume (中): front cover (= 2pp), 9ff (numbered 10-18, = 18pp), back cover (= 2pp).
    • 3d volume (下): front cover (= 2pp), 9ff (numbered 10-18, = 18pp), back cover (= 2pp).
Technique:
  • Woodcuts.
  • Colouring: bokashi (front covers) and tanshokuzuri (ff.1-2 of the 1st vol.).

About the copies in the Library

Shelfmark: n°22

General information

Flaws:
  • Extensive wormholes in the 1st volume; many wormholes in 2d and 3d volumes.
  • Front cover of the 1st volume somewhat grayed.
  • Threads of the bindings in poor condition.
Past owners:
Particularities:
Binding:
  • Original binding for the three volumes (coloured image on the front cover and marbled paper on the back cover).

Repairs and packaging

Repairs:
  • Sunday: ‎24/07/2016
  • The three volumes were bound together, which preserved the colors of the covers of the 2nd and 3d volume from graying. I removed the threads, which were in poor condition.
Front cover of the first volume
  • A lot of wormholes in the 2nd and 3d volumes, sealed with tengusho paper (9g/m2). I tried two kinds of glue: klucel G and wheatpaste. The first one dries very fast, so the repairs have to be done in haste. The second one wets the paper, making it very fragile; when it dries, the paper retracts, thus wrinkling and crinkling a bit.
1st volume, ff.1v-2r
Back cover of the 1st volume (right side) and front cover of the 2nd volume (left side)
  • The 1st volume was extremely damaged by worms. In particular, the first 6 pages were partly lost. The first task was to separate what remained of the leaves without tearing it. That being done, I tried to put together the small pieces which were separated by the worms' holes. I glued these remains on tengusho paper (9g/m2) and sealed the holes in the rest of this volume, the same way I did for the others. It appeared to me that the tengusho paper was too transparent, which was disturbing when trying to look at one page. I therefore glued the first pages to leaves of sekishu paper (29g/m2). The result of this operation wasn't perfect (there were wrinkles), in particular for the first two leaves, which were printed on thicker paper. I would have been preferable to proceed to the repairs directly on sekichu paper (29g/m2). The other issue is that the paper is too thick (original remains + tengusho paper + sekishu paper), so that it is difficult to turn the pages when they are bound together. In the light on these experiments, I think that the best procedure for repairing pages that damaged would be: to glue the remains on a tengusho paper (29g/m2) leaf (as I did here) and to insert a sekishu paper (29g/m2) leaf inside each leaf when folded in two, without gluing it. This extra leaf should be shorter than the original page, so that it won't be sewn when binding the book.
1st volume, verso of the front cover and f.1r
  • To preserve the colors of the front covers, I added a blank leaf of sekishu paper (29g/m2).
2nd volume

  • I choose to bound the three volumes separately, because each of them has its own cover and constitutes a distinct entity. The three volumes will be kept together in a box.
Box:

Pictures