Banpō zensho : Volume 12
Banpō zensho, volume 12, is a Japanese woodblock-printed reference book issued in 1770 by publishers in Edo and Osaka, covering antiquities of Japan and China for a general readership. Its pages pair dense columns of Japanese text with small ruled diagrams of objects, set in double-page spreads. A designer could draw on the orderly grid of text blocks and the simple line-drawn objects, which suit minimalist diagrams, catalogue layouts, or historical type treatments.
