Photographic Book of the Honpa Hongwanji Temple, Kyoto. 1932. (ほんがんじしゃしんちょう)　

Photographic Book of the Honpa Hongwanji Temple, Kyoto. 1932. (ほんがんじしゃしんちょう) .

A beautifully produced book from Japan featuring photographic images of the Honpa Hongwanji Temple, Kyoto (Hon gan ji shashin chou), a Buddhist temple.

This book has latterly been known as "Ryukoku-Eika", Photograph Album of the Honpa Hongwanji Temple.

An outer folio with traditional clasps houses a beautiful book bound with ribbon. Outer cloth cover is illustrated with hand painted decoration and a cloth book title. Inner pages are on a high quality thick paper with tissue guards.

This is the only example from 1932 we have come across and it is likely to be a very scarce volume, in that it was not intended for sale - it is printed in the book that it is not for sale. We have seen later versions of this book from 1961 and 1970, which have less elaborate decoration, one had modern Japanese to the cover, English text printed inside, and also the size can be smaller.

Printed at Ryukunodo's printing shop in Showa 7 (1932). 島田富之助. Author: 武岳 順静/編.

Title page plus 26 photographic plates plus publication details page. Printed tissue guards with French and Japanese language.

Near fine condition - crease to first tissue guard (no tears), occasional minor spotting and a few light markings. Outer folio has some light soiling and spotting to reverse, but really a very handsome volume.

Dimensions:
294mm high x 416mm wide x 17mm deep.

(ほんがんじしゃしんちょう)　本願寺写真帖。昔の絵の本

本願寺は仏教のお寺。

お寺の人が写真集を作ったみたい。

非売品だから売るための本じゃないよ。だからpublisher はない。

コピーしたのは龍雲堂という印刷の店。1932年に作られたお寺の写真集です。

コピーはダメと書いてあるから、他のバージョンはないと思う。