Some Chinese Ghosts.

Boston: Roberts Brothers, , 1887. First edition of this stylised retelling of ancient Chinese legends by Greek-Irish writer Lafcadio Hearn. The present work is one of his earliest writings and the only one about China and its folklore. It was published the year he was sent by magazine Harper's to the French West Indies as a correspondent for two years. In 1890, at 30, Hearn went to Japan with a commission as a newspaper correspondent, which was quickly terminated. It was in Japan, however, that he found a home and his greatest inspiration, and he later became known to the world by his writings concerning Japan. He became a naturalised Japanese, assuming the name Koizumi Yakumo, in 1896 after accepting a teaching position in Tokyo and was "recognized as interpreter of Japanese culture for the West" (Bleiler). The book was issued in several variant cloth colours, with no bearing on priority. Octavo. Original red cloth, gilt titles on spine, title and aged face illustration blocked in bistre on front board, green leaf-patterned endpapers, top edge red. A few line drawings illustrations in the text and Chinese ideogram cul-de-lampes. Spine somewhat dulled, wear to spine ends, corners, and along joints, some marks to cloth, a sound copy nonetheless, Leaf 6f is a cancel. BAL 7916; Bleiler (Supernatural) 787.