OKAKURA (Kakuzo)

Leipzig, Insel Verlag, 1922.

Large 8vo, Japanese-stitched colour illustrated card covers after a design by the artist, turquoise doublure and endpapers. 113 pp., 20 original illustrations in colour lithography by G. A. Mathéy, including 7 full-page. Complete.

Beautiful publication.

The German translation of a famous book on tea by Kakuzo Okakura (1863-1913) first published in 1906 (in English).

The German artist and designer Georg Alexander Mathéy (1884-1968) studied architecture at the Technical University of Budapest, then painting, book art and graphic arts at the National School of Applied Arts in Berlin, where he was a student of the famous book artist and typographer Emil Rudolf Weiss (1875-1942). From 1916 to 1919, he taught in this establishment under the leadership of the architect Bruno Paul. In 1920, Walter Tiemann called him to head the book and lithography workshops at the National Academy of Graphic Arts and Book Trade in Leipzig [Werkstätten für Buch- und Steindruck an die Staatliche Akademie für graphische Künste und Buchgewerbe], where he worked until 1928. Between 1929 and 1940, he lived in Greece, after which he returned to Berlin as an independent artist. In 1953, he became director of the new Klingspor Museum in Offenbach am Main, dedicated to book art. A recognised illustrator, the artist also worked for the Deutsche Reichspost and the Rosenthal porcelain factory.

A few tiny spots on the lower cover, a fine, fresh copy.

Price: 300,00 euros