Katsushika Hokusai, Hokusai Manga, Tokyo, Yoshikawa Hanshichi, 1814–78 (a later printing), Rare Books collection

A painter, draughtsman and printmaker, Hokusai produced an enormous body of work over 70 years. His popular 15-volume Manga, or ‘random or whimsical sketches’, is in many ways a precursor to the Japanese manga comics of today. It contains thousands of images depicting all aspects of Japanese daily life. Hokusai’s drawings reveal both his technical mastery and his observations – both humorous and poetic – of the world around him.