Maggs Bros.

A special collector’s edition of Serizawa’s illustrations for Takeda Taijun’s Thirteen Sisters, which was loosely based on the Qing dynasty tale, Ernu Yingxiong Zhuan or ‘The Story of Heroic Boys and Heroic Girls’ by Wen Kang.

Takeda Taijun (1912–1976) was a celebrated sinologist, priest and novelist who was based in Tokyo. He wrote an interpretation of the Thirteenth Sister which was originally serialised in the Asahi newspaper between 13 July and 28 December 1965, with accompanying illustrations by Serizawa. The story itself follows a female protagonist called He Yufeng, ‘the thirteenth sister’ who embarks on a heroic quest to avenges her father’s death. She is unfazed by the men who challenge her and the social norms that would usually prevent her from taking matters into her own hands.

The publishing history of this title is slightly complex. After the story was complete, the publisher (and Serizawa’s frequent collaborator) Gohachi decided to create a luxurious portfolio of the illustrations as loose prints with a lacquered box in a limited edition of 180 copies. This was done in 1967, just two years after it first appeared in the Asahi newspaper. Separately, 15 copies of the prints were bound into book, also in 1967, which technically form the first edition of this title in book form.

After Serizawa’s death nearly twenty years later, Gohachi revisited this collaboration and decided to pay homage to the great artist by producing a collectors’ edition of the Thirteenth Sister. They managed to receive permission from Serizawa’s family to use the stencils once more to print an edition of 45 copies. The printing and hand-colouring was done by Nagaeda Kyoko (dates unknown), who had apprenticed under Serizawa in his workshop for 20 years. It is especially touching that the final book that Gohachi published of Serizawa’s work was of this feminist tale, printed by Serizawa’s long-time female apprentice.

Very rare. Only 1 copy in OCLC of this edition (NDL Tokyo).