Picture Book of Selected Insects (The Insect Book) (Ehon mushi erami) : [volume 1]
Picture Book of Selected Insects is a woodblock-printed Japanese illustrated book by Kitagawa Utamaro, published in Edo in 1788 by Tsutaya Jūzaburō for a general readership of collectors and craftsmen. Its pictures pair insects with plants in soft colour on pale paper, with the insects shown small and precisely observed beside leaves, flowers and seed pods, giving a designer a model for naturalistic botanical composition and the placement of tiny figures against open ground.
![Picture 1 of 4 from Picture Book of Selected Insects (The Insect Book) (Ehon mushi erami) : [volume 1] (1788), leaf 4](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_18586-4-1.webp)
![Picture 2 of 4 from Picture Book of Selected Insects (The Insect Book) (Ehon mushi erami) : [volume 1] (1788), leaf 7](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_18586-7-1.webp)
![Picture 3 of 4 from Picture Book of Selected Insects (The Insect Book) (Ehon mushi erami) : [volume 1] (1788), leaf 8](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_18586-8-1.webp)
![Picture 4 of 4 from Picture Book of Selected Insects (The Insect Book) (Ehon mushi erami) : [volume 1] (1788), leaf 10](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_18586-10-1.webp)