[ Japanese ] One hundred vintage postcards of Japan, fifty-two of them striking and attractive photographic images, tinted in vivid colour, showing scenes of everyday life, mainly among the rural peasantry (fishing, farming, flying kites, costume)

A contemporary oriental album, 19 x 27cm., with oat cloth boards, green ribbon and embroidered spine, containing a beautiful collection of vintage 9 x 14cm. postcards in near-mint condition. None of the postcards has any manuscript marks or sign of postage. In addition to oriental characters, all have printed on the reverse the designation 'CARTE POSTALE' (some with 'Union Postale Universelle'), with one exception: a lightly-tinted photographic card of a geisha girl with a fan, with a woman playing a stringed instrument to her right, is gilt-edged, and has evidence on the back of being removed from an album. Among the 52 photographic images, tinted in vibrant pinks, yellows, greens, blues, purples, reds and browns, are images of geishas, ferrymen, women with parasols, a tea ceremony, peasants cutting wood, peasants in straw coats, children playing, a woman weaving outdoors, old men and women with babies on the road; scenes with carts, fans, temples, flags, kites, bundles, sail boat; in parks, fields, waterways, woods. The other 48 postcards include twelve black and white photographic reproductions of original drawings, fourteen simple coloured engravings, six coloured engravings of geishas, twelve coloured engravings of street scenes, two modern engravings printed with a metallic hue, and another two modern engravings printed matt.