Honya Seishichi (本屋清七) (publisher ca 1803 – 1906)

Honsei (seal name - 本清)
Shōhonya Seishichi (seal name - 正本屋 清七)
Tamaoki Seishichi (family name - 玉置清七)

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Biography:

Osaka publisher (Marks 123). Artists published by this house include Ashihiro, Ashiharu, Ashiyuki, Fujikuni, Ganjōsai, Hikokuni, Hironobu, Hokkai, Hokuchō, Hokuei, Hokuju, Hokumyo, Hokushū, Kuniharu, Kunihiro, Kunimasu, Kunishige, Masakuni, Nagahide, Sadahiro, Sadamasu, Sadanobu, Sadayoshi, Shibakuni, Shigeharu, Shunchō, Shunsei, Shunshi, Shunyo, Shunzan, Shunzei, Tanko, Toyohide, Umekuni, Yoshikuni, Yoshiume, Yoshitaki and Yoshitoyo.

[Artists in the Lyon Collection published by this house are highlighted in bold type.]

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"The pattern of the publishing business in Ōsaka seems to have been quite different from that in Edo, where publishers proliferated quite freely. Though the technique of the multicolored woodblock had become public property by the 1770s, it appears that the number of publishers always remained somewhat limited in Ōsaka, with a tendency towards domination by one or a handful of houses. The very first Edo-style ōban prints, produced between 1812 and 1815, appear to have been the virtual monopoly: Tenki (Tenmaya Kihei), Wataki (Wataya Kihei), Honsei (Honya Seibei), and Toshin (Tokuraya Shinbei). They in turn, either by governmental restriction on licenses or through collusion, managed to keep out further competition until the late 1830s..."

[We believe that 'Hony Seibei' is meant to be 'Honya Seishichi'.]

Quoted from: Osaka Prints by Dean J. Schwaab, p. 11.

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