Fine Books & Manuscripts

Orlik, Emil. Aus Japan. (Prague): Artist, 1904. Suite of 15 matted prints comprised of six color lithographs and nine color etchings, pulled by the artist himself. Each signed in lower right by Orlik in pencil; lithos also bear Japanese Hanko stamp in lower left. Printed on fine, handmade papers and housed in ornate portfolio with decorative gilt-flecked rice paper boards, patterned woodblock interior and natural linen hinges. Includes 4 pp. colophon signed, dated and numbered 18 out of a limited edition of 50, with 3 x 2” portrait etching on cover and list of prints and their titles inside. Portfolio pages 15 x 11 ¾”; print sizes vary. Protective tissue detached and retained; some mild toning to case, paper and matts consistent with age; matts slightly bumped in corners; folio cover warped with wear to extremities, otherwise a handsome edition of this rare work. In 1900, Emil Orlik, a member of the Vienna Secession Movement, spent ten months in Japan to learn traditional print making techniques from the country’s masters. As one of the first Western artists to cross into Japan’s recently opened borders, Orlik’s atmospheric documentation of everyday Japanese life remains an influential and important body of work.