A Japanese manuscript trade catalogue of lily flower bulbs, without the seller's name or location, each leaf with a full-page colour drawing of a lily (in two cases two lilies of the same sort), forming an attractive series of Japanese flower drawings. One lily is shown with two open flowers, but the rest with one open flower, often also with one or more closed or partly open flowers. The price per bulb varies enormously from 4½ centimes to 4½ francs, with the most expensive sold singly and the least expensive in batches of 20.
The Japanese names follow a non-standard romanization. It seems to be the system used by Paul Amédée Ludovic Savatier (1830-1891), who lived in Japan from 1865 to 1876, and his Japanese student Saba in their published translation of a 1759 Japanese botanical work: Yônan, Botanique Japonaise: livres kwa-wi, Paris, 1873.
Although the catalogue names no nursery or place of issue, Yokohama was the most important centre of the Japanese orticultural trade even before the establishment of Yokohama Nursery Company in 1890, and Savatier lived in nearby Yokosuka. We are grateful to Prof. Kiyoshi Matsuda for romanizing and translating the title and drawing our attention to Savatier's 1875 publication.
The first drawing shows very slight wear in the red stripes down the centres of the pedals, but the drawings are otherwise in very good condition. The paper sometimes shows some folds at the foot. The front wrapper has a few small holes and both show a small abrasion near the foot and slightly tattered edges. The leaves and wrappers have curled above the stitching at the head.