Masakatsu Gunji, Kabuki, Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1985, HC, Near Fine

Gunji, Masakatsu. New York. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. 1985.

English, First Edition, Near Fine, HC, Folio, 9” x 12,”223 pp.

ISBN: 0870117327

Red woven cloth over boards, orange stamped titling to spine, black endpapers and pastedowns, in publisher’s dust jacket featuring full-color photographs to front and back, red and tan text to front and spine, black text to white inside flaps. Minor crease to spine ½” from head, very mild age toning, otherwise clean throughout, tightly bound, and excellent. In a Very Good dust jacket now protected in a Mylar sleeve. Mild edgewear, minor bumping to head of spine, mild shelfwear and pressure indentations to front and back, otherwise excellent. 223 pp. Replete with 67 full-color plates and 303 black-and-white plates. Text by Masakatsu Gunji, Introduction by Donald Keene, and photographs by Chiaki Yoshida. A spirited guide to the theatrical art of kabuki that covers everything about the art form, from rich history to staging to audience reception. Photographs capture the drama and diversity of performances. From the dust jacket: “Professor Gunji’s text brims with his love for kabuki. Through his eyes, it is posible to see how, in its golden age, kabuki was the stylesetter, the subject of gossip, the intellectual stimulus for people of every class of society, and the central influence on popular literature, the ukiyo-e print, and the politics of the day.”