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Making Silk in 18th Century Japan Notecards

A Set of Four Notecards

The following set of notecards is available for sale at $5.00 per set. Proceeds will benefit the Neilson Library Reading Room initiative.

The four notecards

Making Silk in 18th Century Japan

During the late seventeenth century woodcuts became a vital form of artisitic expression in Japan. Picture books (ehon) containing woodcut images by popular ukiyo-e artists became the rage among the merchant class of Edo, present-day Tokyo. Named for the school that inspired them, ukiyo-e, or "Pictures of the Floating World," are woodblock prints produced from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. The rediscovery of ukiyo-e during the latter half of the nineteenth century by American and European artists and collectors who were fascinated by all things Japanese led to a renewed interest in this fine woodblock print medium.

The images reproduced for these notecards are taken from Ehon Takara no Itosuji (Japan: 1796, reprinted 1916) documenting the various stages involved in sericulture. Illustrations by Shigemasa Kitao (1739-1820) and Shunsho Katsukawa (1726-1793). Selected from the George Cash Collection, Mortimer Rare Book Room, Smith College.

To Order

The set of notecards is available for sale at $5.00 per set. Please add $3.00 for postage for three or more sets. Checks are payable to: Friends of the Smith College Libraries and mail to the FS.C.L. Office, Neilson Library, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063. Tel: (413) 585-2903.