TOSHIO SAEKI / Works

Toshio Saeki
Works, 1971
Softcover in original illustrated slipcase, 68 pages
30 x 29cm
Gakugeishorin company, Tokyo

Condition: Near Fine in a Very Good original slipcase. The softcover volume is exceptionally well preserved, with clean covers, a firm binding and a bright, unmarked interior. Pages remain crisp throughout with only the faintest age toning, as issued. The original publisher's slipcase shows light shelf wear, including gentle rubbing, minor creasing and a few small bumps to the extremities, with light age toning consistent with its age. A handsome and well-preserved example of this increasingly scarce first edition.

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Published in 1971, Works is the landmark first monograph by Toshio Saeki, introducing the artist's singular vision at the moment he emerged as one of the defining figures of Japan's underground graphic culture. Issued by Gakugeishorin in Tokyo, the volume captures Saeki's earliest mature works, establishing the visual language that would make him an icon of ero-guro—the uniquely Japanese fusion of the erotic, grotesque and absurd.

Drawing equally from Edo-period ukiyo-e, manga, folk mythology and post-war popular culture, Saeki populated his images with schoolgirls, ghosts, yokai, elderly figures and uncanny hybrid beings caught in dreamlike narratives that oscillate between humour, violence and desire. Rendered in bold flat colour and stark black line, the compositions possess a deceptive simplicity that belies their psychological intensity, transforming familiar scenes into deeply unsettling allegories.

Housed in its original slipcase, Works remains one of Saeki's most important and sought-after publications. Produced before his international cult following emerged, it stands as the definitive introduction to an artist whose influence can be traced across contemporary illustration, manga, tattoo culture and underground publishing.