Vol 58, No 6 (1997)

June


Cover Page
This image, "Large Bell in the Grounds of Zojoji Temple," appears in a book of Japanese woodblock (ukiyo-e) prints called Thirty-six Celebrated and Interesting Sights of Edo by Utagawa Toyokumi III and Ando Hiroshige II, published in 1864. A popular art form that was a collaboration by as many as four people, the best ukiyo-e (or "floating-world" pictures) were produced from 1764 to 1868 and depict the life and customs of the common people who were their most frequent purchasers. There are more than 1,200 books in the library of Charles Nel­son Spinks in the Special Collections Depart­ment of the American University Library in Washington, D.C. Spinks collected books of ukiyo-e prints that depicted the Tokaido Road which linked Edo (now Tokyo) with Kyoto.