A Cure for Gloom, being the full set of Fan-Target Toba Pictures as first published at Osaka, Japan, in 1720 plus fables with & without morals

Title

en_US A Cure for Gloom, being the full set of Fan-Target Toba Pictures as first published at Osaka, Japan, in 1720 plus fables with & without morals

en_US A Weathermark Edition

Description

en_US This is a hardbound book (hard cover)

en_US This book has a dust jacket (book cover)

en_US First edition

en_US Edited by Meredith Weatherby

Creator

en_US Weatherby, Meredith

Contributor

en_US Fan-Target Toba

Date

2016-01-25T19:12:45Z

en_US 2002-07

en_US 1965

Date Available

2016-01-25T19:12:45Z

Date Issued

en_US 1965

Abstract

en_US Here is a curious book, starting from its unusual size of 5¼ x 9¼. The 1720 Toba-Picture Fan Targets were popular comic woodblocks, a prototype of cartoon books. This art's appeal was distinctly plebeian. This edition adds a characteristic tint to each of its three component books. The texts added here are modern creations. A comment on the original woodcuts spoke of very strange paintings but somehow you will find them very fondable and attractive. The human representations are deliberately slightly askew, with strange faces and elongated arms. The stories' humor is generally slightly off-color, often dealing with the embarrassing revelation of older men's genitals or with word-plays on the male member. A good example occurs in Top Spinning (62), where everything said about the men's tops can be applied as well to their penises. Perhaps three of the best of these stories are One Hat, Two Heads (34), A Lord Disrobed (36), and Fox Trap (40). These engaging stories remind me of those in Perry's Aesopica, especially when a story that looks merely funny turns out to be a genuine fable. The last story's last line speaks of smiles and laughter as the only cures for gloom (68). The back flap of the dust jacket gives an excellent account of the elements of the book's format, down to the traditional Japanese wrapping paper that makes up the dust jacket.

Identifier

en_US 4514 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/80178

Language

en_US eng

Publisher

en_US John Weatherhill, Inc.

en_US Tokyo

Subject

en_US NC1703.T63 1965

en_US Title Page Scanned

Type

en_US Book, Whole