NYBG Kiku Note Cards

The chrysanthemum ( kiku in Japanese) is treasured throughout Japan, where it has been cultivated and trained into exquisitely shaped displays for more than 1,500 years. These stunning note cards are decorated with images from Kikka-Meiji-sen, or Catalog of Select Chrysanthemums, a very rare nursery catalog published in Tokyo in 1891 by Kanezumi Imai.

The printing quality and colors of the full-page woodcuts in the catalog are both extraordinary. The catalog paper is laden with tiny flecks of gold leaf to enhance the images. The woodblocks were engraved by the artist Tomita Rokusaemon.

Rare Book Collections of the Mertz Library here at the Garden.

Boxed set of 8 note cards (6¼” x 4½”), 4 each of 2 images, 9 envelopes