A distinctive photobook by Japanese photographer Ken-ichi Murata, whose work combines photography, eroticism, classical imagery and dark fantasy to create an unmistakably theatrical visual world. Genealogy of Witches explores the mysterious and sensual image of the witch through Murata's characteristic photographic language. Female figures appear within carefully constructed settings filled with symbolic objects, flowers, antique furnishings, costumes and elements suggesting ritual, folklore and the supernatural. Rather than conventional erotic photography, Murata creates elaborate tableaux in which sensuality becomes part of a larger fantasy narrative. Beauty, innocence, fetishism and darkness coexist, giving the photographs an atmosphere somewhere between a fairy tale, a private dream and a Gothic stage. The publication developed from Murata's long-running “Genealogy of Witches” series and combines his photographs with texts exploring witches, magic and related cultural imagery. Murata is also known internationally through photographic works published outside Japan, making his distinctive interpretation of Japanese erotic and fantasy photography familiar to collectors beyond Japan. This copy is signed by Ken-ichi Murata in gold ink, beautifully contrasting against the black page. An attractive signed work for collectors of Japanese photography, erotic art, Gothic and decadent imagery, fantasy photography and unusual Japanese visual culture.