Beschreibung:

Edo period (1615-1868), circa 1799, circa 1802, and circa early 1800s
An album of 26 oban yoko-e shunga prints, bound in orihon (concertina-fold) format, comprising: six designs from the album Ehon Komachi biki (Picture Book: Pulling Komachi), circa 1802; 12 prints from the album Negai no itoguchi (Unravelling the Threads of the Desire), circa 1799, both by Utamaro; and seven prints from the Koshokuzu-e juniko (Erotic Illustrations for the 12 Months) by Shuncho, later editions, circa early 1800s; the green covers with a design of stylized birds, flowers, and other geometric motifs; with five pages of handwritten preface; each series comprising as follows:
Ehon Komachibiki:
1) Prefatory illustration depicting a young woman making overtures to a young man leaning on a go board
2) Courtesan and adolescent youth with winter bedding
3) Married woman with her young lover beside a low plum-blossom decorated screen
4) Maid meeting her lover during an outing from a samurai household
5) Geisha and lover with dishes and sake kettle
6) Yoshiwara courtesan with one arm around the neck of her secret lover whilst he holds her leg
7) Probably another prefatory illustration depicting a courtesan exposing her genitalia, her client with his hand to his mouth and the other hand grabbing the woman's leg
Negai no itoguchi:
1) Secret affair between a married man and a married woman, the man suckling his lover's breast
2) Prostitute and adolescent client before a piled bed-quilt
3) High-ranking courtesan with client dressed in a black-and-white chequered kimono
4) Geisha and manservant from a tea-house in front of a tsuitate (screen)
5) Couple in front of a mirror stand, the man wearing just a loin-cloth
6) Geisha and her lover, beside a quilt and a standing lantern
7) Married man and widow, beside a smoking set
8) Lovers in front of a low screen painted with winter plum branches
9) Geisha in a kimono with long, flowing sleeves and her lover, with dishes on a food tray and a sake cup
10) Young daughter of a townsman and her lover, beside a shamisen
11) Young married couple on a summer sleeping mat, the man wearing just a loin-cloth
12) Older married couple making love, the woman grasping her husband's ankle
Koshokuzu-e juniko:
1) Sixth Month: Husband and wife during their mushiboshi (airing household paraphernalia)
2) Seventh Month: Wife and husband on the night of the Star Festival on the seventh day
3) The Eighth Month: Geisha and danna (male patron) drinking a sake on the harvest-moon viewing night on the 15th day
4) Ninth Month: Female servant and employee of a mercantile house in the back garden
5) Tenth Month: Geisha and young client beside a kotatsu（charcoal brazier in a floor well)
6) Eleventh Month: Youth and older woman in the backstage area of a kabuki theatre
7) Twelfth Month: Oiran (high-ranking courtesan) and wakadanna (young master of a mercantile house) on a futon, chatting about the year-end cleaning
Each unsigned.
Each image: 24.8cm x 37.5cm (9¾in x 14¾in); album overall: 25cm x 19cm x 1.5cm (9 7/8in x 7½in x 5/8in).