Dear Specialists,
Does anyone have information about labels and envelopes for the series 36 Views of Mount Fuji?
The design of the label appears to be based on the top right quadrant of Mishima Pass in Kai Province, minus the tree, but the colouring seems to come from South Wind, Clear Morning. I can’t see any visible publisher seals on the envelope. I understand that the series was issued in editions divided into batches of prints packaged in pictorial envelopes. However, without a publisher seal, the wording ‘first part, new edition’ is ambiguous. Copies of three of the prints on the list, Soshu Shichirigahama, Bushu Tama River in Musashi Province and Ushibori in Hitachi, were inside the envelope. The first two are clearly later reprints and the third, although excellent, probably is too. The envelope may have been produced for a later collection by a new, unnamed publisher, or could be original from the second edition of the original series published by Nishimura around 1831, and re-used to give spurious authenticity to later reprints. The only other near examples I can find are three in the Library of Congress relating to reprints by Takamizawa. It does not look like anything from the 20th century, but I could be wrong. Grateful for advice.