4054 - Japan

Japan Photographer: Usui Shūsaburō Studio (active ca. 1875–1894). Views of Japan: Yokohama, Tokyo, Kamakura, Nikko, Kobe, and the surrounding areas. 1880s. 48 hand-colored albumen prints, mounted on album pages. Each approx. 20.8 x 25.2 cm or reverse (album pages 27.8 x 34.4 cm). Numbered and captioned on the negatives. Bound in contemporary black-lacquered boards with gilt and polychrome decoration; gilt page edges (overall size 29 x 37 x 4 cm). The album traces a scenic itinerary from Yokohama through Tokyo and Kamakura to Nikko, before continuing on to Kobe and the Osaka railway. It brings together panoramas, city streets, temple and shrine complexes, Buddhist monuments, gardens, waterfalls, lakeside views, and mountain settlements, with occasional figures bringing the sequence to life. The selection deliberately shifts between the treaty-port city, the capital, pilgrimage sites, and celebrated resort landscapes, offering a comprehensive late-nineteenth-century view of Japan for the foreign traveler. – Lacquered boards with scratches, scuffing, abrasions, edge wear, and small losses, particularly along the spine and at the corners. Pages show overall toning, scattered foxing, and occasional handling marks. Prints have occasional surface marks, slight fading, and minor color wear; otherwise, this is a well-preserved and rare complete album.