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 - Teeny picturesHokusai is one of the great landscape artists, and these are some of his best works, in nice impressions and clear colors. Unfortunately, the reproductions are TOO SMALL, in many cases half the original size, which especially diminishes the impact of landscapes. Maddeningly, the pictures in horizontal format are printed horizontally, so that their large dimension is reduced to the small dimension of the book page, leaving a large blank space beneath: they are MINUSCULE. What genius arranged this? This problem is difficult to spot browsing on a computer, so beware! Rating:  - The best available on HiroshigeThis book was produced as he was shown at the Royal Academy in London. I begged the poster at the tourist-board in Stockholm and got my parents to buy the hardcover version at the exhibition. Collecting Hiroshige prints in Stockholm I would have loved to see them in London, but the book is the second best thing. The reproductions are terrific, the text short but informative. All the different subjects of Hiroshige are displayed, landscapes, fan motives, fish, flowers and so on. Get it and then get some real prints! Rating: - wondeful full blown imagesI recieved this not knowing its large format and the images in full color on quality paper. Informative and accurate descriptions of the work. You will not regret buying this book. Makes me sigh.... Rating: - MaybeBestBookThe text provides the necessary background to facilitate understanding of the fantastic pictures. A great variety of photos provide wonderful insight into the world of Hiroshige. The pictures can be perused for pure enjoyment. Terrific book. Rating: - Superlative Art Book about Superlative Artist.Quick, stop reading this review and buy this Hardcover book in New or Like New condition now, while you can. For, this is one of the greastest modern so-called 'coffee table' art books that I have come across. Too often these days one finds that such art books which should be large, lushly produced, lovingly put together and brilliantly written are unfortunately done with punk production values resulting in poor reproductions on cheap looking paper stock and accompanied by unedifying, often stultifying essays. Not this one. As I said above it is one of the most impressive art books that I have come across in twenty years of buying them. It is printed and bound in Germany which in itself is commendable and noteworthy because it is quite expensive to produce a book there. I am so glad they did because, as good as they are, Italy and Hong Kong, two places commonly used for producing today's art books, just don't do as good a job as Prestel has done in Germany. This book was originally produced to accompany an exhibition at the Royal Academy of the Arts during 1997. As such, it commanded a skilled and erudite staff of authors to craft both an accurate history and an illuminating commentary of the artist and his art. They are: Matthi Forrer, author of a similar book on Hokusai; Suzuki Juzo, the author of the standard monograph on Hiroshige; and Henry Smith a Professor of Japanese History at Columbia U. You will come back to this book many times over the years because there is so darned much information to absorb, visually and intellectually and because the publisher's top notch production values have accurately captured the spirit and beauty of Hiroshige's Woodblock Prints. This is the sort of book that will be actively sought out by art book collectors in years to come. This is why I say, buy it now, while you can at such a low price. You won't be sorry. page 1 of 2
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