An impressive and rare collection of approximately one hundred and ten maps, pilgrims' guides, travellers' handbooks, city plans, etc., formed by Dr. Bernard Rudofsky, the internationally famous architect and designer

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THE BERNARD RUDOFSKY LIBRARY Bernard Rudofsky was born in 1905 in Moravia, and received masters degrees in architecture and English from the Technological University in Vienna in 1928 and a doctorate in 1931. Before the war he studied and worked in Italy, where he was in partnership with another famous architect and designer, Gio Ponti, and was also the editor of Domus magazine (founded by Ponti). He emigrated to Brazil in 1938 and worked in Sao Paolo until 1941 when he was invited by the Museum of Modern Art to come to New York after winning an inter-American design competition, and where his work enjoyed great international critical acclaim, even including the approval of Sacheverell Sitwell. From then on he was based in New York until his death in 1988. In the postwar years he launched himself into a myriad of activities, being at various times associate Editor and Art Director of New Pencil Points (now known as Progressive Architecture), Editorial and Art Director of Interiors, Director of Apparel Research at MOMA, Guest Director for the Textiles USA exhibition at MOMA in 1956, Bemis Visiting Lecturer at MIT, Chief Architect and Originator of the United States Government Exhibitions at the US Pavilion at the Brussels Expo in 1957-1958, where he attracted considerable controversy among his more earnest colleagues by putting forward the dangerously radical view that modern lifestyles should be imbued with a sense of fun and enjoyment. Following this he became Research Professor at Waseda Univerity in Tokyo from 1958 to 1960 where he formed this present collection of maps and books. Later on he was also Visiting Professor of Art at Yale, Guest Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and Smithsonian Scholar in Residence at the Copper-Hewitt Museum in New York. He greatly enjoyed Japanese map design which he admired for its quirky graphic and pictorial attractions and for its relevance to modern concepts of design rather than for its geographical qualities; unlike conventional Western maps, many of these early Japanese maps were designed to be read sitting on the floor, and were thus designed to be read from four different directions, so that as a consequence the positions of North, South, East and West depend on where the map is viewed from, while in other maps important features such as Mount Fuji or famous temples and shrines are shown from a pictorial birds-eye view rather than in conventional cartographic form. Many of these maps are extremely interesting from a historical point of view as they date to a time when the interior of Japan was totally terra incognita to all foreigners and to most Japanese as well. Several of them were designed for the use of travellers and pilgrims and provide practical details of distances to be covered, along with inns and the price of accommodation to be found along a large variety of routes including such famous highways as the Tokaido and the Kisokaido. A selection of these pieces were displayed at the exhibition of Japanese Vernacular Graphics at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1965. FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE LATE BERNARD RUDOFSKY

EDO AND MEIJI PERIODS (17TH-19TH CENTURY)

Details

An impressive and rare collection of approximately one hundred and ten maps, pilgrims' guides, travellers' handbooks, city plans, etc., formed by Dr. Bernard Rudofsky, the internationally famous architect and designer
Edo and Meiji Periods (17th-19th Century)
The collection includes, among others: a map of Japan dated Genbun 4 (1739); a detailed map of the Kisokaido road with descriptions of inns and their prices dated Horeki 6 (1756); a three-volume book dated Horeki 12 (1762) giving details of Mount Minobu, the centre of the Nichiren sect; a guide to the Tokaido and Kisokaido roads dated Tenmei 5 (1785); a detailed plan of the Imperial Palace in Kyoto dated Kansei 3 (1791) following the rebuilding necessitated by the fire of 1788; a map of Edo dated Bunka 3 (1806); a traveller's guide dated Bunka 7 (1810) containing useful advice on suitable footwear as well as details of reptiles and insects to avoid on the journey; four daimyo [regional feudal lord] directories, showing crests and designs for their retainer' uniforms, lanterns, flags etc., for the years 1761, 1830, 1868 and 1869; a postman's map of a mail round for a district in Tanba (Meiji period); and maps of villages.

In addition a collection of approximately one hundred and ten illustrated Japanese woodblock-printed books mainly dating from the Meiji era but with some from earlier eras such as Horeki, Kansei, Bunka, Bunsei, Tempo, Koka, Ka'ei and Ansei, and covering such diverse subjects as the Satsuma rebellion, Anglo-Japanese commercial dictionaries, scientific developments, food, furniture etc, and including several volumes depicting damage caused by earthquakes, fires and tidal waves, and three wood-block triptych prints, including one by Yoshitsuna showing the various fire-brigades of Tokyo in an uki-e landscape setting

Varying sizes and conditions: some books incomplete

Literature

Further information on early Japanese maps and map-makers can be found in Hugh Cortazzi, Isles of Gold: Antique Maps of Japan (New York and Tokyo, 1983)

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

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