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Unai no tomo (Book of Toys) : [volume 1]

1891 · Kyoto : Yamada Unsōdō 山田芸艸堂 · 21 pictures

Unai no tomo is a Meiji-era Japanese book of toys and dolls published in Kyoto in 1891 by Yamada Unsōdō, a printing house. The pictures show painted color woodblock-style plates of dolls, figures and toys laid out in double-page spreads with handwritten captions. A designer might take the flat, layered color blocks, pale backgrounds and tidy ordered arrangements of small objects as a model for a compact catalogue layout.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library