Promotional Crepe Paper Booklet of Bunkio Matsuki, Boston Absolutely superb, custom made beauty by Takejiro Hasegawa
The most beautiful custom-ordered Hasegawa publication we have yet found. Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940) moved to the US (Salem, MA) in 1888 with the help of Edward Sylvester Morse and went to high school. He worked for department store Almy, Bigelow & Washburn in Salem, purchasing Japanese items in Japan for the store. Matsuki knew Ernest Fenellosa and Arthur Wesley Dow quite well, too. He opened his own store in Boston at the end of 1893. Frederick Sharf's 1993 article in the Essex Institute Historical Collection's Quarterly titled, '"A Pleasing Novelty": Bunkio Matsuki and The Japan Craze in Victorian Salem', mentions that Matsuki, '...commissioned his friend Takejiro Hasegawa in Tokyo to design a woodblock-printed, crepe-paper brochure listing the range of popular merchandise available at his Boston store.' (pp155-156), however there is no image of such a brochure. This is undoubtedly it. Extremely rare. Matsuki clearly requested that Hasegawa produce something very special and he delivered.
[Tokyo]. [Hasegawa Takejiro]. ND(c1894).
2 crepe paper leaves as issued. Silk string binding. 19.1 x 15.7cm.
In fine condition with only a hint of wear. The small line on the cover curling up (to the left of the word, 'Boston', is actually smoke rising from the incense burner.
nb33010002
