Commerce and Craft in the Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book

Abstract

Session IV : Crafts as Cultural ResourcesA Handbook for Travellers published by the British publisher John Murray, was one of the leading guidebook series in the 19th century, covering not only Europe but also popular ports of call. The fourth edition of Murray’s guidebook on Japan, A Handbook for Travellers in Japan (1894), has a photo album titled Illustrated Companion to Murray’s Japan Guide-Book (1894), which serves as an addendum and is not found in any other books in the series. Although it has ‘Murray’s Japan Guide-Book’ in the title, the album was published not by John Murray but by Kazuma Ogawa, a Japanese photographer. This paper discusses the conversion and adaptations in photographic formats made for different purposes by comparing his other works on a companion album. As it is a ‘companion’ piece, it had a role in promoting the guidebook and helped achieve commercial value. Simultaneously, it put Ogawa’s photographic craft works into mass production. Rather than taking new photographs for the work, Ogawa adapted works from his other collotype prints, which was his speciality, and introduced halftone printing, which was cheaper and could be mass-produced. This was his second introduction of a halftone print, but it was employed from a more commercial perspective. Ogawa also reorganised and published this guidebook supplement into a two-volume photographic collection for Japanese readers titled Nihon Hyakkei (『日本百景』 A Hundred Views in Japan, 1894). He changed the form again and expanded countrywide readerships. Ogawa took advantage of the opportunity to produce a photo book as an addendum to the guidebook, transforming expensive technical work into a more commercial product for a Japanese audience depending on its intended use. This transition in format not only broadened the readership but also added new value to the same work, and expanded the possibilities of photography