Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Hearn, Lafcadio. SOME CHINESE GHOSTS. Robert Brothers, Boston, 1887.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, pp. [1-4] [i-iii] iv [v-viii] [9] 10-185 [186-188: blank] [note: last leaf is a blank], flyleaves at front and rear, original decorated red-orange cloth, front panel stamped in black, spine panel stamped in gold, top edge stained red, white endpapers with floral pattern printed in olive-green. First edition. The second book written by Hearn and the first to collect his Oriental ghost fiction. "Hearn's ghostly fiction occupies a place unique in the history of ghost stories in the English language. Most of his ghost stories are actually retellings of Japanese (and some Chinese) legends and folk tales. Utterly devoid of Gothic trappings, their tone and subject matter set them apart from their occidental counterparts. It is not surprising that although he wrote in English Hearn is still revered by some Japanese as a Japanese writer. For Hearn, the ghostly was a natural part of the Japanese landscape . Hearn's creatures are not violent intrusions upon everyday reality; they permeate that reality." - Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, pp. 199-200. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 787. Bleiler (1978), p. 97. Reginald 07015. BAL 7916. Cloth worn at spine ends, spine age-darkened, some soiling to cloth, a sound, good copy. (#164089)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
HEARN, Lafcadio. SOME CHINESE GHOSTS. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1887.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First printing. Original cloth, cover titles and decoration in black, spine titles in gilt. Cloth soiled, minor fray to spine head, ownership inscriptions to blank leaf following endpaper, a GOOD copy with sturdy hinges.
Seller: Nicholas J. Certo, Newburgh, NY, U.S.A.
HEARN, Lafcadio. SOME CHINESE GHOSTS. Roberts Brothers, Boston, 1887.
Price: US$175.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Octavo, 185 pages, floral endpapers, 2 inch water spot on rear cover, front hinge tender, one puncture in spine Chinese stories he discovered before he discovered Japan. One of Merle Johnson's HIGH SPOTS OF AMERICAN LITERATURE; [BAL 7916].
Seller: Thomas J. Joyce And Company, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.
Hearn, Lafcadio. Some Chinese Ghosts. Roberts Brothers, Boston, 1887.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 185 pp, in original red cloth with floral patterned endpapers. Boards dust-soiled, cloth frayed along joints and at spine ends. Binding sound, text clean, with the exception of a small spot on the title page. Original owner's signature, dated 1887, on front flyleaf. Small label of bookseller Geo. F. Wharton of New Orleans on front pastedown. One of Hearn's earliest books, a retelling of ancient Chinese legends that he describes in the preface as selected for their "weird beauty." BAL 7916.
Seller: Walkabout Books, ABAA, Curtis, WA, U.S.A.
HEARN, LAFCADIO. SOME CHINESE GHOSTS. ROBERTS BROTHERS PUB 1887, BOSTON, MA, 1887.
Price: US$400.00 + shipping
Description: BOOKPLATE OF ESTELE DOHENY IN HALF CRIMSON MOROCCO SLIPCASE AND CHEMISE/ BAL 7916/ MERLE JOHNSON "HIGH SPOT" OF AMERICAN LIT PUBLISHER'S ORIGINAL DARK ORANGE CLOTH COVERED BOARDS WITH GILT SPINE TITLES, TITLES AND FACIAL VIGNETTE TO THE FRONT COVER IN BLACK, OLIVE DECORATED FLORAL ENDPAPERS, AND TOP EDGE STAINED DARK ORANGE. BOOK IS LIGHTLY SOILED WITH A SMALL LIGHT STAIN AT THE TOP OF THE FRONT BOARDS FORE-EDGE CORNER, SLIGHT PERISH TO THE "GHOSTS" ON FRONT COVER, SMALL LOSS ON FRONT ENDPAPER HINGE, AND A HALF-MOON TIDE MARK TO THE BOTTOM FORE-EDGE OF THE 5 PAGES FOLLOWING THE TITLE PAGE. A VERY NICE COPY OF A FRAGILE BOOK SELDOM FOUND WITHOUT HANDLING ISSUES.
Seller: JOHN LUTSCHAK BOOKS, BURLINGTON, WI, U.S.A.
HEARN, Lafcadio.. Some Chinese Ghosts.. Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1887, 1887.
Price: US$417.06 + shipping
Description: 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. BAL 7916; Bleiler (Supernatural) 787. 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.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Hearn, Lafcadio. Some Chinese Ghosts. Roberts Bros., 1887.
Price: US$550.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Reddish cloth boards w/black titling & decoration on front panel, gilt titling on spine-lightly soiled 7 rubbed from handling, protected in mylar. Leafy endpapers, clean, sharp pages throughout.
Seller: Shaker Mill Books, W. Stockbridge, MA, U.S.A.
LAFCADIO HEARN. SOME CHINESE GHOSTS.. BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS., 1887.
Price: US$796.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First Edition, SCARCE YELLOW CLOTH, iv 185pp. gilt title on spine,title and illustration in dark red on front cover, Very Good copy 18.5x13cm preserved in contemporary special made book case.
Seller: Kitazawa Bookstore, ABAJ/ILAB, Tokyo, Japan
Hearn, Lafcadio. SOME CHINESE GHOSTS. Robert Brothers, Boston, 1887.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, pp. [1-4] [i-iii] iv [v-viii] [9] 10-185 [186-188: blank] [note: last leaf is a blank], flyleaves at front and rear, original decorated red-orange cloth, front panel stamped in black, spine panel stamped in gold, top edge stained red, white endpapers with floral pattern printed in olive-green. The second book written by Hearn and the first to collect his Oriental ghost fiction. "Hearn's ghostly fiction occupies a place unique in the history of ghost stories in the English language. Most of his ghost stories are actually retellings of Japanese (and some Chinese) legends and folk tales. Utterly devoid of Gothic trappings, their tone and subject matter set them apart from their occidental counterparts. It is not surprising that although he wrote in English Hearn is still revered by some Japanese as a Japanese writer. For Hearn, the ghostly was a natural part of the Japanese landscape . Hearn's creatures are not violent intrusions upon everyday reality; they permeate that reality." - Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, pp. 199-200. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 787. Bleiler (1978), p. 97. Reginald 07015. BAL 7916. Just a touch of rubbing to binding extremities, else a fine, bright copy. A lovely copy. Uncommon in this condition. (27966)
Seller: John W. Knott, Jr, Bookseller, ABAA/ILAB, Laurel, MD, U.S.A.