Ogawa, K. (Kazumasa)
Types of Japan, Celebrated Geysha of Tokyo in Phototype and From Photographic Negatives Taken by Him, Tokyo, K. Ogawa, Folio (11 3/4 x 16 in - 30 x 40.5 cm), ca 1892, decorated card covers, string ties, 12 black and white collotypes, each one from a posed (fully clothed) photograph of a famous Tokyo geisha. The title gives the address of No. 1, Iidamachi Shichome, Kojimachiku and characterizes the plates as "In Phototype." Phototype is another term for collotype.

This is one of Ogawa's most famous works. This book commemorates the opening of the Ryounkaku in Asakusa ("Asakusa Twelve Stories") which was the tallest building in Tokyo (Japan's first Western style skyscraper) at the time and a well know "amusement center" in Tokyo. The Ryounkaku was designed by the British engineer William  K. Barton. It gained fame as an early Western style building in Meiji Tokyo. It was damaged by the earthquake of 1894 and ultimately had to be destroyed because of damage from the earthquake of 1923.

The Ryounkaku opened in Meiji 23 (1890) and it is possible this book dates to that year. Unfortunately, there is no colophon. In July of 1891 an exhibition of 100 portraits of Geisha was held at the newly opened Ryounkaku. Ogawa produced albumen photographs for that event. Some, if not all, of the collotype portraits in this book were exhibited as colored albumen prints at this exhibition. Visitors at the exhibit voted on the most popular geisha. The winner of the vote was "O-Tama" from the Tamagawaya geisha house in Shinbashi.

Three other K. Ogawa books (perhaps more) were subsequently published on the topic of Geishas. Another book by the same title, Celebrated Geysha of Tokyo, ca 1895, contains 9 collotype plates with 105 portraits. Geishas of Osaka and Kyoto, ca 1895 contains collotype plates. Geisha of Tokyo, Hyaku Bijin - Japanese title: [Tokyo Hayaku Bijin] (One Hundred Beauties of Tokyo), 1902 contains collotype plates, probably most were two per page with the Geisha's name in English and Japanese. These later books were also produced in much less expensive half-tone (photo-engraved) versions.

For information on Kazumasa Ogawa, click here.

I believe that a K. Ogawa photograph (apparently not previously published) from this series was later used as a colored albumen photograph in the F. Brinkley 10 volume deluxe series, Japan Described and Illustrated. Notice the similarity between the Brinkley color albumen photograph titled "A Tokyo Beauty" (Volume III, "De Luxe" Edition) and a K. Ogawa's collotype from Celebrated Geysha of Tokyo published ca 1892.

• Size & Format. Folio (11 3/4 x 16 in - 30 x 40.5 cm) size in Western style horizontal format reading from front to back. Crepe paper books are smaller.

• Covers and Bindings.
  • Front and back covers.
    
    The covers are made from a thick card stock type paper. On the outside they are lithographed in colors (gray/beige background with black, white, light and dark green and silver) with a repeating pattern of concentric overlapping half circles, stylized clouds with leaves inside and breaking waves in silver. The inside of the covers have a two color butterfly pattern.
    

  • Double string ties. The covers have two double string type ties that are usually tied in a cross type pattern in the front. The crossed ties end in tassels. Occasionally the ties are not crossed in the front and these do not have a tassel.
    

  • Spines. Thicker books have a fabric type covering protecting the entire spine. On the thinner books there is sometimes a fabric strip (usually dark blue) covering approximately 2 1/2 inches at the head and foot of the spine. These spine covers are delicate and breakup easily and the norm is for them to be missing or badly deteriorated.
    

  • Title. The book title is lithographed in bamboo stylized lettering in a title box on the front cover which is framed by two silver lines. "K. Ogawa" is identified as the photographer, "Tokyo, Japan" is the location and the titles generally state "In Collotype & From Photographic Negatives Taken by Him." If the book has descriptive text, the author of that text is identified. Where not all the photographs were take by K. Ogawa it merely states "In Collotype." Some books were distributed by "Sole Agents" and that is stated along with the name and location of the agent.
    

• Collotype Plates.
  • The plates were manufactured by the collotype process. This is a high quality mechanical process capable of creating sharp images with a wide variety of tones. For more information on the collotype printing process, click here.

  • Black and White versus Color Images. As a general rule the plates are printed in black and white. Occasionally they are hand colored. I am unaware of a book of this type where the plates were actually printed mechanically in color using a multi pass collotype process as you see in the Ogawa flower collotypes in the Brinkley books of 1897-1898. The few color plates found in this series of books are hand colored.

  • Descriptive Titles. Plates generally have a descriptive title in English placed at the foot of the image. In some cases the descriptive title is printed on the tissue guard protecting the plate and not on the plate. The descriptive titles on the plates were applied in a separate letter type printing process from the collotype process that created the actual image on the plate. On the back you often see the indentations where the title was impressed on the plate.

  • Paper Color and Thickness. The paper color of the collotype plates in this series is brown/tannish. The thickness is similar to a thin index card. While the paper is not limp, it bends very easily. Below is a relative color comparison of various papers found in this and other Ogawa collotype plates.

    1. Types and View books
    (1892-6)

    2. Landscape Gardening Supplement (1893)

    3. Sights and Scenes in Fair Japan (1910)

    4. Bright white paper for comparison

    Composite view
    

   
  

• Collotype / Phototype. The titles generally state the plates are "In Collotype" but with some books the term "In Phototype" is used. Occasionally, the same book can be found (Celebrated Geysha of Tokyo, 12 plate version, for instance) where covers with either of the terms are found. In the context of Ogawa books "collotype" and "phototype" are synonymous. The term "phototype" is the French word for the collotype. The term was used primarily in Europe but collotype quickly became the preferred designation. I suppose it is possible that for books intended for export to Europe the title used the term phototype.

• Colophons. Except in cases where a book had an author who wrote the descriptive text, colophons are generally not found with the books. However, I believe that most of the books were actually issued with Japanese language colophon slips inserted loose at the back of the book. The lack of these slips is what makes these books hard to date precisely. These colophon inserts are on thin paper and most of them probably became separated from the books over the years. I have seen one slip that was actually tipped to the inside back cover. Below is an example of a colophon insert slip.
  Costumes & Customs in Japan, Vol I and II
  
  Printed: Meiji 28(1895).6.21
  Distributed: Meiji 28(1895).6.25

  Books where there is an author who wrote the descriptive text generally have a Japanese language colophon printed on the inside back cover. Below is an example of this type of colophon.

  Sights and Scenes on The Tokaido
  
  Meiji 25(1892).5.11

• Color Wooblock Inserts. Infrequently the larger format books (11 3/4 x 16 in - 30 x 40.5 cm) are found color woodblock inserts giving the title. These measure (12 x 15 3/4 in - 30.5 x 40 cm). They are placed in loose at the front of the volume. Since these inserts are wider than the book, they are folded on the right side 1 1/2 inches to fit under the covers. These inserts are printed on high quality paper. They are double fold with the paper sealed in the middle at the back. They bear a color woodblock image of a cherry tree in bloom. The name of the book is printed at the middle left. The inserts are found with and without the Kelly & Walsh imprint and address (No. 61, Main Street, Yokohama) and the statement "Sole Agents.". I have confirmed these inserts in editions of Japanese Life (Kelly Walsh imprint), and Customs and Costumes, Vol II (No Kelly Walsh imprint). It is my experience that these inserts are seldom found with the book. Below are examples of these inserts.
  
  

• Crepe Paper Books. During the period from 1892~1918 Ogawa published a series of books all titled Illustrations of Japanese Life. There were four different books with the same title. These books were on crepe paper and contained color collotype plates. These books have covers patterned along the same lines as the standard types and views covers found on the non-crepe books. Below is a picture of a cover from one of these crepe paper books.
  

  For more information on these books, click here.