Description
Original woodblock print of the kuchi-e (口絵) type made by the artist Mizuno Toshikata (水野年方) as the frontispiece of the novel “Desire and Desire” (慾と慾) by the writer and literary critic Uchida Roan (内田魯庵), one of the main authors of the social novel (社会小说) genre of the Meiji period (明治時代).
The work, produced by the Hakubunkan (博文館) publishing house in March 1900, is taken from vol. 6 n. 4 of the literary magazine Bungei Kurabu (文芸倶楽部) and depicts two women conversing in front of an elegant byobu (屏風) screen: the figure on the left smokes a kiseru (煙管) pipe, the one on the right is intent on sewing.
The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite some signs of aging including slight stains, is in overall good condition.
