The influence of manga on international comics had grown considerably over the past two decades. The origins of manga can be traced back to the Edo Period (1600 to 1868) of Japanese history, specifically to popular type of books using ukiyo-e, Japanese woodblock prints. These books contained humorous content and featured humans, fantastical creatures and even references to celebrities of the period. As literacy rose in Japan throughout the 18th Century (part of the Edo Period) and into the 19th and early 20th Century (the Meiji Period), these kind of illustrated novels became popular and it is from here that we actually get the first recorded use of the term manga to describe a words-and-pictures based story.

This book includes those kinds of origin works of manga dated from 17th to early 20th Century. It is a great source book for graphic designers as well as comic book artists, and also Japanese art lovers who can find some great works of well-known ukiyo-e artists such as Kuniyoshi Utagawa, Hokusai Katsushika, and Yoshitoshi Tsukioka. The book will present works in chronological order.

This book contains a small amount of artistic nudity.