Barakei (Killed by Roses) Eikoh Hosoe, Yukio Mishima Photobooks

Folio (42.3 x 26.5 cm), illustrated cloth boards, acetate dust jacket, publisher's printed slipcase. First edition. Preface by Yukio Mishima, who served as a model for the photographs. 43 photographs by Eikoh Hosoe reproduced in heliogravure, 2 gatefolds and 4 color illustrations on rice paper. From the edition of 1500 copies, numbered and signed by the author and the artist. Erotic fable, "Barakei" translates by its provocative allusion to Yukio Mishima's homosexuality the despair of an immense scholar who refuses the decline of his country. "What emerges is a series of extraordinary theatrical tableaux - where Japanese surrealism and Italian mannerism mingle - that certainly helped forge the image of Mishima as the samurai redeemer of the Japanese soul" Martin Parr & Gerry Badger. Literature: Martin Parr & Gerry Badger, The Photobook: A History, Volume I, Phaidon, 2004, p.280-281; Andrew Roth, The Book of 101 Books, PPP Editions, 2001, p.164-167. A condition report and additional images are available on request.