One of the most sumptuous American livres d'artiste of its decade. Jack Levine — a leading Social Realist — here turns eastward, casting his figures in the idiom of Japanese ukiyo-e, the "pictures of the floating world." Michener, whose novels had made the encounter of East and West his life's subject, supplies the text.
The four original lithographs, signed in the stone, and the hand-laid woodcut on Japanese vellum give the set its standing as an original graphic work, not merely an illustrated book. A complete, doubly-signed set — the artist and the author signing both in the colophon and inside the clamshell box.
Large folio, 510 × 340 mm. Part One: Michener's text with Levine's marginal illustration, four original colour lithographs and a woodcut on Japanese vellum, loose in a satin chemise; Part Two: the reproduction of Levine's sketchbook, 54 colour plates with tissue-guards, loose in a leather portfolio; together in a satin clamshell box.
Very good; minor wear to the box. Complete, the lithographs and plates fresh.
First edition, number 933 of 2,500 sets, signed twice by both the artist and the author (colophon and inside the clamshell box)
