Katsushika Taito II (active 1810-1853) was born Kondo Fumio (近藤 文雄). He was a student of Katsushika Hokusai, who used the name Taito in the period 1811-1819, when he was producing the Mangas. As was the tradition, Taito adopted an artist's name recalling the name of his master.
The present book is the first volume of a two-volume book entitled Paintings of flowers and birds (Kachō-ga Tsutō 花鳥画傳). The book is in two volumes despite the fact that the title page of our book mentions "complete" (全), rather than "volume I". It is a co-edition, with Susanbo (嵩山房) in Edo and Gungyokudo (群玉堂, also known as Kawachiya Okada Mohei 河内屋茂兵衛) in Naniwa (Osaka). The introduction is signed Shōtei Kinsui (松亭金水). The colophon advertises a second edition (二編) of the book. The cover is the same as that of the Nagoya editions of the Hokusai Manga (see for example the cover of our Manga 6).
Click on the front cover to browse the book. The folios are presented in the occidental way, from left to right. More information is given when clicking on the individual folios to access the slideshow.
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The digitized book is also available at the Art Research Center of Ritsumeikan University. That website only shows 30 frames at a time (to proceed, click on the box with an arrow in the bottom green banner). That book is dated 1848. Volume I is identical to the present one.