Japanese Fairy Tale series. Nos. 1-20.

A$7,500 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Tokyo : T. Hasegawa (printed at the Tsukiji Type Foundry), Meiji 25 [1892]. (Date and place from colophon to No. 20). Twenty crepe-paper books ( chirimen-bon ), bound with silk stab ties as issued in four volumes, duodecimo, comprising nos. 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, and 16-20; printed in colour by hand from Japanese wood blocks on crepe paper ( chirimen-gami ); the fronts of the last two volumes bear the name of Brentano s bookstore, Union Square, New York; loss of paper along spines (as usual), the third volume with partial loss of the silk ties, occasional small marks but the contents are otherwise remarkably clean and fresh, and the colour of the illustrations vivid; an exceptional set housed in two custom-made half morocco protective boxes, the spines with elegant gilt decoration befitting of the style of the magnificent illustrations in these works. Takejirō Hasegawa (1853-1938) began publishing his Japanese Fairy Tales series as ehon (picture books) for Westerners in 1885, producing them as chirimen-bon from 1889 until 1922. The books were bound in the traditional Japanese book binding style ( fukuro-toji ). All in all, 31 stories were translated and published. Dating particular editions is notoriously difficult as the publisher often reissued volumes with old dates or addresses despite operating from new premises. Hasegawa employed a number of talented English writers resident in Japan, including Lafcadio Hearn and Basil Hall Chamberlain, to translate the Japanese tales into E

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.