✳︎ Book Title: Reconstruction of Modern Japan: Saburo Ishizuka's Collection of Meiji and Taisho Era Glass Plate Photographs, Nikon Salon Books 26 ✳︎ Publication Year: 1999 ✳︎ Published by: Nikon Nikkor Club ✳︎ Design: Seiichi Suzuki Design Office ✳︎ Size: 24 x 26 cm ✳︎ Pages: 163p This is a highly valuable book, carefully selected from a vast collection of glass plate photographs, capturing the daily life and customs of Japan during the mid-Meiji to Taisho periods (1894-1926). The photographer, Saburo Ishizuka, was a dentist from Niigata Prefecture, a politician who served two terms in the House of Representatives, and a close friend of Hideyo Noguchi, a world-renowned bacteriologist. He was a man of many talents, but he was particularly passionate about photography, organizing the amateur photography group "Hokuetsu Shayukai" in the Taisho era. The approximately 2,200 photographs remaining from Ishizuka, housed in the Yoshida Togo Memorial Museum, capture the lives and customs of ordinary people, landscapes, and events in a very intimate perspective, across a wide range of locations including Niigata, Tokyo, Gunma, Nagano, Shizuoka, and Toyama. They offer a different perspective from official records or tourist photographs of the time, depicting the lives of ordinary people, their customs, and landscapes. The greatest appeal of this photo collection is the breath of life of the Meiji and Taisho eras captured by the glass plate photographs. The use of the old material, glass plate (glass negative), provides high definition and a unique atmosphere and texture that is difficult to reproduce in modern photography due to the stable support of the glass. Nikon Salon Books are distributed to members and are not for sale. As a collection of works that vividly conveys the breath of modern Japan, it is an essential catalog for all who love the world view of the old days. The non-profit photo book, "Reconstruction of Modern Japan," is rare. It features glass plate photographs from the Meiji and Taisho periods (1894-1926), sourced from the Ishizuka Saburo Collection at the Yoshida Togo Memorial Museum. #GlassPlate #GelatinDryPlate #WetPlatePhotography #Pictorialism #ModernPhotography #TaishoRomance #SaburoIshizuka #HokuetsuShayukai #MeijiPhotography NiigataArea EchigoRegion #ModernJapan #NikonSalonBooks #OldPhotos #TaishoDemocracy EggPhotography