"The occasion of the dispersalof the Amstutz collection of Japanese and Chinese prints has been seen as an event sufficiently remarkable to warrant the publication of an exceptional catalogue. The prints themselves are outstanding, with strong representation of such leading masters as Utamaro, Sharaku, Hokusai, Hiroshige, Toshinobu, Kiyohiro, Kiyomitsu, Harunobu, Shunsho and Toyokuni, a number of magnificent rareties by Sugimura Jihei, Shunko, Toyonobu and others, together with six specimens of 17th century Chinese colour prints known as Kaempfer prints after the name of the western collector who first brought them to Europe. The great majority are in the splendid condition that modern collectors always hope for but rarely find, and the standard of the colour reproductions is unusually high. Not only are the prints carefully described and illustrated, with care to situate them in the history of oriental woodblock colour-printing, but the occasion has been taken to give an account of the full and adventurous life of the collector, Dr. Walter Amstutz, climber, skiier and publisher, who has also contributed his own personal reminiscence as a foreword. The resulting book is not only a permanent book of reference to prints that will soon be distributed among the major print cabinets of the world, but a tribute to the man who brought them together by virtue of another of his gifts, an eye for graphic quality"--On front flap of dust jacket.