1982 — 4to., First Edition, main text in Japanese, secondary text in English, with 88 fine full-page coloured reproductions, 46 full-page reproductions in monochrome, very numerous smaller illustrations in the text and a large folding map, page-edges faintly browning; original printed wrappers lettered in gilt, terracotta endpapers, a very good, bright, clean copy. The Ataka Collection of oriental ceramics was purchased by the twenty-one companies of the Sumitomo group and donated to the city of Osaka which created a purpose-built museum to house the treasures. The museum opened in November 1982 and is one of very few in the world devoted exclusively to oriental ceramics. The collection as a whole comprises about 1,000 individual pieces catalogued as 965 items. It includes Chinese ceramics (144), Korean ceramics (793), Vietnamese ceramics (5) and Japanese ceramics (2), together with Chinese applied arts (2), Korean applied arts (10) and Japanese applied arts and miscellaneous items (6). The splendid full-page reproductions are augmented by a fully indexed catalogue including thumbnail images of each piece. THIS IS THE FIRST PUBLIC CATALOGUE OF THIS RENOWNED AND WORLD-CLASS COLLECTION. Extremely scarce, especially in this condition.
