This wide-ranging volume brings together over 75 significant woodblock prints spanning 300 years, from the 17th century to the late 20th centuries. Organised chronologically, it begins with rare, and in some cases unique, examples of Edo-period (1603–1868) woodblock ukiyo-e prints, encompassing a diverse range of sizes, materials, and subjects. Among the renowned artists represented are Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Kunisada and Utagawa Hiroshige.

This volume then surveys later periods and artists associated with Japanese print output during the late 19th- and early 20th-century Meiji (1868–1912) and Taisho (1912–1926) periods including many produced by artists working as part of the Shin-hanga "new prints" and Sosaku-hanga "creative print" movements. The works from this time period include designs by such influential artists as Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Kamisaka Sekka, Hashiguchi Goyo, Yoshida Hiroshi, Koshiro Onchi and Ito Shinsui.

Finally, later post-war prints featured in the catalogue, dated to the 1950's onwards, manifest the influence of international art movements including Cubism, Surrealism and Popart.