Hokusai's Album of Pictures, vol. 3 complete
1849
Behold a battered, bright red treasure from the final year of Katsushika Hokusai's life! Created in 1849, just before the legendary master of the 'Great Wave' passed away at age 89, this album shows the heavy wear of time with its dark stains and frayed binding threads. Hokusai was a famously eccentric workaholic who moved house nearly 100 times just to avoid cleaning, and he was obsessed with improving his art until the very end. He claimed he wouldn't truly understand drawing until he was 110—sadly, he ran out of time, but left behind masterpieces like this third volume.