Featured in this lot is the Limited Edition critically acclaimed and now scarce masterpiece, "Oriental Ceramics The World's Great Collections", Volumes 1-12, First Edition, 1976, publisher Kodansha LTD., Tokyo. The color plates were printed in four-color letterpress. The paper used for the text is wood free printing paper. Art paper was used for the plates, which were then hand-mounted. Japanese parchment or shinkyokushi is used for the title page; shindanshi crepe for the end paper. Book was bound with a gold-stamped stylized flower pattern, motif from a Chinese celadon vase of the Sung dynasty, on cloth specially woven for this edition. Individual decorative blue cloth bound slipcases are hand-made. There are over 1200 color plates and over 3500 monochrome plates. Volumes include: vol. 1 - Tokyo National Museum, #99; vol. 2 - National Museum of Korea, Seoul, #92; vol. 3 - Museum Pusat, Jakarta, #97; vol. 4 - Iran Bastan Museum, Teheran, #217; vol. 5 - The British Museum, London, #106; vol. 6 - Victoria & Albert Museum, London, #80; vol. 7 - Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, #84; vol. 8 - Musee Guimet, Paris, #58; vol. 9 - Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, #77; vol. 10 - The Freer Galley of Art, Washington, D.C., #95; vol. 11 - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, #198; vol. 12 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, #180. The books are in amazing condition. Slipcases have same stamped stylized flower pattern as book covers; They exhibit colour fading and scuffing. Each book measures 14.5"L x 10.5"W x 2.25"D, each slipcase is 15.5"L x 11.25"W x 3"D. Books in slipcase weigh 11lb. 2oz each, total weight approximately 134lb.*