A JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTED BOOK, EDO PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY 日本江戶 浮世繪木板印刷書 十九世紀 A book of The Eight Dog Chronicles, Tale of Eight Dogs, or Biographies of Eight Dogs (Nansô Satomi-Hakkende), volume four, woodblock print, by Utagawa, Kunisada and Ryütei, Tanehiko Dimensions: 17.5cm x 11.5cm This series of prints is based upon the novel Nansô Satomi Hakkendena, a Japanese epic novel written and published over twenty-eight years (1814 – 1842) in the Edo period, by Kyokutei Bakin. Set in the Muromachi period, the story follows eight fictional warriors, connected spiritually but born into different families throughout the Kantō region, coming together and fighting as vassals of the Satomi clan, as well as numerous side plots Provenance: Augustus Thorne (1825 - 1901), Barrister at law, East India Merchant, Freemason, a Director of Thorne & Co. Ltd, Shanghai & London (1808-1903), thence by descent