Seiyō Dōchū Hizakurige: Bankoku Kōkai (Shank's Mare Round the West: A Voyage to All Countries)

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Seiyō Dōchū Hizakurige: Bankoku Kōkai ["Shank's Mare Round the West: A Voyage to All Countries"]

Kanagaki, Robun, Fusō, Kan [text by]; Ōju Seisei [Kawanabe], Kyōsai, Ikkeisai [Ochiai], Yoshiiku, Utagawa, Hiroshige III [illustrated by]. 

[Tōkyō]: Bankyūkaku ... [et al.], Meiji 3-9 [1870-1876]. 

A complete fifteen-chapter (thirty-volume) set of Robun and Kyōsai's most well-known work of comic fiction. Based on Fukuzawa Yukichi's Seiyō Tabi Annai (1867) and Jippensha Ikku's bestselling novel Tōkai Dōchū Hizakurige (1802-1814), the work follows the bumbling protagonists Yajirobē and Kitahachi (descendants of the identically named protagonists of Jippensha's work) as they travel to the 1862 London World's Fair, visiting Shanghai, Hong King, Saigon, Singapore, Suez, Cairo, Alexandria, Marseille, Paris, and other cities on the way. The volumes are rife with parodies of works, genres, and artistic tropes that would have been familiar to typical Japanese readers. These include (but are not limited to) references to and adaptations of dictionaries, kibyōshi ("yellow-cover" illustrated books), gōkan (illustrated serial fiction), Yoshiwara Saiken (pleasure quarter guides), banzuke (rankings), senshafuda (votive slips), jūroku musashi ("Sixteen Musashi" games), takarabune ("Treasure Ship" illustrations), and sugoroku (game sheets). Each chapter has two volumes, the first usually with a colour woodblock-printed frontispiece. Fusō Kan (1841-1894), who collaborated with Kyōsai on Bunmei Kaika Tōke Hyakunin Isshu (1873), provided the text for chapters 12-15. A masterpiece of parody, adaptation, and satire, the set also employs a creative mix of artistic styles, and features one fold-out illustration, one detailed (Western-style) copperplate-printed frontispiece, and one original woodblock-printed fukuro (book-envelope, for chapter 8).

Fifteen chapters in thirty four-hole-bound (yotsumetoji) volumes, complete, on double leaves, traditional East Asian binding style (fukurotoji). Original wrappers lightly mottled and creased, with occasional scrapes, marks, and stains. Losses and handwritten additions to some daisen. Tear, repaired, to title of chapter 2. Large but light stains to first volume of chapter 12. Pencil notes to lower wrapper of first volume of chapter 13. Occasional ex-ownership and book-lender stamps, creases, thumbing, minor stains, and wormholes to leaves. Housed in two non-original custom folding cases. 2, 2, 19; 20; 23; 22; 25; 21; 20; 20; 26; 19; 19; 22; 19; 20; 3, 17; 19; 5, 14; 17; 7, 13; 23; 7, 13; 24; [2], 18; 19; 18; 21; 5, 15; 21; 19; 19 leaves. Volumes 1-20 measure approx. 18.5 x 12.8 cm; volumes 21-30 measure approx. 18 x 12 cm. 

Seiyō Dōchū Hizakurige: Bankoku Kōkai (Shank's Mare Round the West: A Voyage to All Countries)
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