Japanese Bogies

Miniature Japanese Bogies

This edition was kept in a bright red box filled with an abundance of miniature Japanese bogies. Binding was done by Sarah Wyman Whitman, one of the most important women designers of book binding. Whitman's designs are known for their restrained style, reflecting traditional shapes. She preferred gold stamping over multi-colored inks as well as brightly colored book cloths. She is best known for her ornamental decorations rather than illustrative designs. Recognizable by her distinctive alphabet and a tendency to carry design elements from front to back covers. 

Since the size is so small, it is quite difficult to work with. From the pencil of the famous Hokusai, each illustration appears to have been hand drawn ever so carefully and colored by vivid hues to add to its unparalleled manifestation. The text and illustrations for this specific miniature have been taken from an article by Andrew Lang published in The Magazine of Art in December of 1884. 

In Japanese Bogies, Lang's zany descriptions of a number of Japanese ghosts were based upon the concepts of Japanese artists, including Hokusai. The elements of horror and fantasy follow throughout.

Brillant illustration created by Hokusai

Ghosts in China and Japan are seen to be most terrible spirits. They are to be found everywhere, not at all confining themselves to a few houses, many people may be fortunate enough to go through life without meeting them. Besides being ubiquitous, these ethereal beings, according to Lang's pictures, are awful to look at, and he says that he has not dared to be as horrid, he declares,

"They are everywhere every man has his own ghost, every place has its peculiar haunting fiend, every natural phenomenon has its informing spirit ; every quality, as hunger, greed, envy, malice, has an embodied visible shape seeking what it may devour. Where on science, for example, sees (or rather smells) sewer-gas, the Japanese behold a slimy, meagre, insatiate wraith, crawling to devour the lives of men. Where we see a storm of snow, their livelier fancy beholds a comic snow-ghost, a queer, grinning old man under a vast umbrella."

All drawn in nervous, yet steady lines by the truly imaginative Japanese artist, Hokusai, there is absolutely no doubt that many people, moreover those who have a right to call themselves book-lovers, will find a great deal of amusement and information in Andrew Lang’s delectable book.