Lotus: Special Holiday Number in Memorium James A. McNeill Whistler
Boston: Bunkio Matsuki, 1903. Paperback. 25 (of 26) black & white plates (6 lettered A-F, 18 numbered 1-18; the missing plate -- the frontis ("The Balcony ... by Whistler ") -- and Whistler's "Nocture-Bognor" were neither lettered nor numbered), [4], 53, [1]p. plus viii pages of advertisements at end. Softcover in original wrapper. 22cm. Covers nearly detached. Endpapers browned and brittle. Stain in lower right corner of last several leaves. Advertising leaves and a few others chipped or torn along fore-edge. Any coloring on the lotus flower on the front cover is gone. Identified on cover as Vol. I, No. I (Christmas Issue). The letttered and numbered plates illustrate Japanese objects rather than Whistler's works. No further issues of Lotus appear to have been published. Matsuki emigrated to the United States in 1888. Five years later, he opened a store in Boston which was one of the first stores in the United States specializing in Japanese arts and crafts and related materials. Fair. Item #92660
Price: $40.00