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Description

This is the definitive illustrated edition of the international bestseller with gorgeous new photography of the celebrated netsuke collection, and sumptuous full-colour images hand-picked by Edmund de Waal from his family archive 264 Japanese wood and ivory carvings, none of them bigger than a matchbox: Edmund de Waal was entranced when he first encountered the collection in his great-uncle Iggie's Tokyo apartment. When he later inherited the 'netsuke', they unlocked a story far larger and more dramatic than he could ever have imagined. From a burgeoning empire in Odessa to fin de siecle Paris, from occupied Vienna to post-war Tokyo, Edmund de Waal traces the netsuke's journey through generations of his remarkable family against the backdrop of a tumultuous century.

Reviews

"You have in your hands a masterpiece" -- Frances Wilson Sunday Times "The book not only of the year, but of the decade... A quite enchanting book, to be kept and reread by as many generations as it describes" -- Michael Howard TLS "Elegant. Modest. Tragic. Homeric." -- Stephen Frears Guardian, Books of the Year "The most brilliant book I've read for years... A rich tale of the pleasure and pains of what it is to be human" -- Bettany Hughes Daily Telegraph Books of the Year "A complex and beautiful book" -- Diana Athill Literary Review

Additional Information

• Illustrations: 120 full colour illustrations