Edo-Period Shunga Book Set (3 Volumes)
Japan, late Edo period (Bakumatsu era), c. 1853–1867
 
A complete three-volume set of illustrated shunga books from the final decades of the Edo period, produced in the standard small-format commercial style of the time (approx. 17.8 cm × 11.8 cm each volume).  Each book is notably thick and densely illustrated, containing a large number of erotic woodblock print images throughout.  Not all pictures are shown here, but there are approximately 90+ picture pages for the entire set with the remaining pages being kanji text pages.
 
The text is attributed to Nozaki Bunzō (野崎文蔵), better known under his widely recognized pen name Kanagaki Robun, a prolific late-Edo writer active in popular fiction and illustrated books.  The shunga illustrations are by an artist of the Utagawa school.
 
The shunga imagery in this set is dark and unconventional in tone, reflecting the more experimental and transgressive character of late Edo erotic publishing.  Scenes include a wide range of erotic subjects, among them:
 
intense and dramatic heterosexual encounters,
bondage and restraint imagery,
fantastical and grotesque elements, including animalistic and demonic motifs,
and two clearly identifiable male–male (nanshoku) homoerotic scenes.
 
Condition:
Overall good Edo-period condition.  Some mild wear, soiling, and some pages show slight wormage at top border.  Please see and judge from photos.
 
Significance:
This complete three-volume set is unusually dark and explicit throughout, with page after page of hard-core shunga imagery.  The content is dark, confrontational, and far more extreme than the decorative or romantic shunga commonly encountered.  Complete sets of this intensity are scarce, and this example stands as a serious, no-compromise work for advanced shunga collectors.