The Old Woman Who Lost Her Dumpling -: Japanese Fairy Tale Series No. 24.

"The Old Woman Who Lost Her Dumpling" - Japanese Fairy Tale Series No. 24, Rendered into English by Lafcadio Hearn was published in Tokyo by T. Hasegawa, Publisher and Art Printer, in about 1902. It consists of 12 folded-over crepe leaves, including cover, printed on both sides. There are beautiful color woodblock prints accompanying the text. The story is a fairy tale of a wizened old woman who falls down a hole, like Alice, into a strange land while she is reaching for her dropped dumpling and is enslaved by a man-eating monster. The story, as may be expected, ends happily.

The book measures approximately 5 ½ x 7 ½ inches and is bound with silk strings. The pages are slightly tanned, but the text is clear and the woodblock prints are brightly colored. The rear cover is creased and has some edge chipping. The overall condition of the book is good.

The illustrations accompanying this description show the front and back covers of the book, a two-page spread showing the beginning of the story, and another two-page spread from mid-story.

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (27 June 1850 – 26 September 1904), known also by the Japanese name Koizumi Yakumo, was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. In the United States, Hearn is also known for his writings about the city of New Orleans based on his ten-year stay in that city. [Wikipedia]

Hasegawa Takejirō (1853–1938) was an innovative Japanese publisher specializing in books in European languages on Japanese subjects. Hasegawa employed leading foreign residents as translators and noted Japanese artists as illustrators, and became a leading purveyor of export books and publications for foreign residents in Japan. Hasegawa's earliest known books were published under the "Kobunsha" imprint in the mid-1880s but around 1889 he began publishing under the names "T. Hasegawa" and "Hasegawa & Co." [Wikipedia]