The Beginning Woodblock Collector's Bibliography



Here's a starter bibliography for woodblock print collectors (which is not the same as a starter bibliography for someone who wants to know something about woodblock prints, which would be an entirely different list of books), containing the items I would get, in order of priority in each group, along with some comments on each. Items listed with titles in bold are ones I would consider essential.

As for sources, try Paragon Books (the best online collection of Asian art books, with a very large stock), Advanced Book Exchange (spotty as to availability of any given volume, but often cheaper than Paragon, and if Paragon doesn't have it, your only hope), and Ronin Gallery (they have a few books, and also sell woodblock prints, but their prices for the latter are quite high).


General



Collections



Individual Artists

There are dozens of worthwhile books on individual artists, but only a few stand out as being more use than the general run, for the prints that are available today - many of the older artists one will only find in sales by major auction houses, such as Sotheby's.

Individual Series

Again, there are lots of worthwhile books on individual series, but only a few have been really useful in identifying prints that are reasonably common.




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