Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints (2 vols.)

The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints will serve as a source of quick reference as well as an in-depth study of all aspects of Japanese prints from the Edo (1600-1868) to Taishō (1912-26) periods. The first section of The Hotei Encyclopedia is divided into four main subject areas. Each subject area contains a longer survey article which is accompanied by shorter essays that highlight specific topics pertaining to Japanese prints and their development. The second section of the book comprises an extensive alphabetical listing of well over a 2000 carefully cross-referenced entries on individual print designers and schools, publishers, carvers, printers and collectors, major Kabuki actors, materials and techniques, conservation, subject-matter/iconography, literature and miscellaneous print-related terminology. This is followed by various appendices, including such aspects as seals of publishers and carvers, signatures, maps and chronological tables.

'The bulk of the encyclopedia are essays written by fifty experts dealing with the many technical, genre, and evolutionary aspects of the woodblock prints. As I read the encyclopedia from cover to cover, the quality of the essays struck me as consistently quite high, evidence of good editing...For collectors, the encyclopedia offers information on what to look for in quality, artist and publisher identification, and other critical details...The Hotei encyclopedia is an excellent starting point for collectors.' Todd Shimoda, The Asian Review of Books, 2006. ' .... these two volumes are a major achievement. They summarize the current state of the field and its history, both in Japanese and in Western language publications, contain practical information of use to both novice and veteran collectors, and include a large number of indispensable reference materials, many available in English for the first time. Overall, the editors did an excellent job selecting topics and authors for the essays, which provide succinct summaries of their subjects. The best of these go beyond mere summarization and provide a sense of how studies on these topics developed historically, reveal recently addressed avenues of research, use close discussion of specific prints to amplify larger points that place print production within a cultural context, and suggest directions for future scholarship. College Art Association Reviews, Pat Graham.

Amy Reigle Newland has worked as a specialist editor and writer on Japanese woodblock prints for some fifteen years, with a particular interest in works of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In either and editorial and/or authorial role, her publications include Japanese Erotic Fantasies: Sexual Imagery of the Edo Period (2005), Printed to Perfection: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection (2004), A Courtesan’s Day: Hour by Hour (2004), The Commercial and Cultural Climate of Japanese Printmaking (2004), Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints (2003), Crows, Cranes & Camellias: The Natural World of Ohara Koson 1877-1945 (2001), Time Present and Time Past: Images of a Forgotten Master – Toyohara Kunichika 1835-1900 (1999), Heroes & Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi 1797-1861 (1998), and The New Wave: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection (1993). The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints (2005) is her most ambitious project to date, one which was coordinated from her home in rural New Zealand where she lives with her husband, son and flock of sheep.