Seidenzucht Hochschule zu Kioto, 1938 [Souvenir Photograph Album of the Kyoto Sericulture Training School, Japan]

Kyoto Sericulture Training College

Kyoto

:

[Kyoto Sericulture Training College]

,

1938

.
First Edition.

31.5cm x 27cm. [90] pages, 212 silver gelatin photographs in various formats tipped-in. Black velvet covered boards, gilt lettering, silk ties. Text is in Japanese.

Souvenir photo album in a custom black velvet binding of the Kyoto Sericulture Training College. Silk manufacture was traditionally an industry of paramount importance in Japanese society, and it remained the predominant one until the 1950s. One of the most prestigious teaching institutions in the areas of silk farming and textile manufacture in the early twentieth century was the Kyoto Sericulture Training School (established in 1899 at Kita-ku, Daishogun, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce), which was a forerunner of the present-day faculty of Textile Science of the Kyoto Institute of Technology. This souviner album is essentially a college yearbook in photographic firmat. The special binding suggests this example was presented to a German visitor. The photographs and descriptions provide a comprehensive record of the college’s technology and teaching methods, of its staff and students, and of the daily routine and extra-curricular activities at the college during the year 1938. The album contains 212 silver gelatin photographs in various formats are tipped in on the rectos of the thin card leaves, the vast majority with accompanying printed text in Japanese on the tissue interleaving and/or on the leaves themselves. They show numerous aspects of life at the college including study, lab and field work, and extra curricular activities, with numerous sports illustrated including judo, sumo, ice hockey, equestrian, and more.

The lower hinge has cracked, though the album remains sound. It appears that 6 photographs have been removed. Some of the tissue guards with creasing and minor foxing or insect damage. The photos are mostly in Fine to Near Fine Condition, though a couple of minor corner creases. Good Condition.