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Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) holds an assured place in the history of world art as one of the greatest and best-loved masters of the wood-block print. For this book, published on the occasion of an exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts in London to mark the bicentenary of the artist's birth, every effort has been made to reproduce the finest early impressions. Each plate is provided with a commentary by Matthi Forrer who, in an introductory essay, examines Hiroshige's life and work, assessing his place in Japanese art and making some important revisions to the generally accepted chronology of his oeuvre. Suzuki Juzo, in his essay, makes a plea for seeing Hiroshige as a whole, drawing attention to aspects of the artist's work and personality that are often overlooked, while Henry D. Smith II places Hiroshige and his art in their social and political context. [via]