For assistance of many kinds in preparing this book the thanks of the author are gratefully offered to Mr. Frederick William Gookin, Mr. Howard Mansfield, Mr. William S. Spaulding, Mr. John T. Spaulding, Mr. Judson D. Metzgar, Mr. Charles H. Chandler, Mr. John Stewart Happer, Col. Henry Appleton, Mrs. Arthur Aldis, Mr. Ernest Oberholtzer, and Mr. Charles August Ficke. Though many obligations must perforce go unacknowledged, it would be improper to fail to state indebtedness to the writings of Von Seidlitz, Bing, Huish, Anderson, Strange, Binyon, Gookin, Kurth, Morrison, Happer, Koechlin, Vignier, Succo, Field, De Goncourt, Okakura, Edmunds, Perzynski, Wright, Fenollosa, and De Becker. Many collectors have kindly allowed their prints to be used for illustration in this book. That all the examples are from American collections is due to considerations of convenience, not to any notion of their superiority. All prints not credited to another owner are from the collection of the author. The other collections from which illustrations are drawn are as follows:-- Spaulding (William S. and John T.), Boston, Massachusetts. Gookin (Frederick W.), Chicago, Illinois. Mansfield (Howard), New York. Chandler (Charles H.), Evanston, Illinois. Metzgar (Judson D.), Moline, Illinois. Ainsworth (Miss Mary), Moline, Illinois. Four of the poems herein printed appeared first in _The Little Review_. A number of the others are from the author's book "Twelve Japanese Painters." Most of the photographs here reproduced were prepared by Mr. J. H. Paarman, Miss Sarah G. Foote-Sheldon, and Mr. J. D. Metzgar. DAVENPORT, IOWA, U.S.A. CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE 11 GLOSSARY 19 CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY SURVEY 23 II. CONDITIONS PRECEDING THE RISE OF PRINT DESIGNING 47 III. THE FIRST PERIOD: THE PRIMITIVES 61 IV. THE SECOND PERIOD: THE EARLY POLYCHROME MASTERS 125 V. THE THIRD PERIOD: KIYONAGA AND HIS FOLLOWERS 205 VI. THE FOURTH PERIOD: THE DECADENCE 255 VII. THE FIFTH PERIOD: THE DOWNFALL 347 VIII. THE COLLECTOR 401 INDEX 449 ILLUSTRATIONS HIROSHIGE: THE BOW-MOON _Frontispiece_ PLATE PAGE 1. MORONOBU: A PAIR OF LOVERS 71 2. SUKENOBU: A YOUNG COURTESAN 77 3. KWAIGETSUDŌ: COURTESAN ARRANGING HER COIFFURE (_Spaulding Collection_) 81