[ Photographs ] (Erotica) Japan Accordion-fold album containing 23 carte-de-visite-size prints of a partially dressed geisha posing provocatively with her legs fully spread to reveal her most intimate lower body parts; in several views a man is

[ Photographs ] (Erotica) Japan Accordion-fold album containing 23 carte-de-visite-size prints of a partially dressed geisha posing provocatively with her legs fully spread to reveal her most intimate lower body parts; in several views a man is actively stimulating her or casually holding open her legs. 12mo, kiri wood; with notations, in Japanese, on front pastedown that translate as: "Meiji Period 13-September, Osaka-Schmiaji, 34d St. Mori." 1882 [Not Illustrated] E4000 6000 A curiosa item by the Japanese photographer MM, whose graphic sexual pictures are rather remarkable for the period and culture. While the images may draw on a 19th- century Japanese tradition known as "pillow books" (instruction manuals for brides to refer to on their wedding night), this album looks as if it was directed toward the groom, especially given the preponderance of startling close-ups of female genitalia. In several of the views the man, whose face is ( purposefully?) hidden, spreads the woman's legs and diddles her; in others he sits passively, his back to his partner. Through it all the model wears a Buster Keaton-like expression that seems to ask "What next?"