Chin P'ing Mei, the adventurous history of Hsi Men and his six wives: with an introduction by Arthur WALEY

London : John Lane, 1939 852pp, 6 pp catalogue at the back (over 1200g to post). With an Introduction by Arthur Waley. This English translation by Bernard Miall from the abridged version by Franz Kuhn (Insel-Verlag, Leipzig) first published in 1939. Browning to spine and mild discolouration marks to the beige cloth boards with green lettering. The anonymous author took the pseudonym Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng, earliest copies circulating in 1596 - the graphically explicit depiction of sexuality garnered the novel a notoriety in China akin to Fanny Hill and Lolita in English literature - the identity of the author has not yet been established, but the coherence of the style and the subtle symmetry of the narrative point to a single author. The British orientalist Arthur Waley, writing before recent research, in his Introduction to the 1942 translation suggested that the strongest candidate as author was Xu Wei, a renowned painter and member of the "realistic" Gong'an school of letters, urging that a comparison could be made of the poems in the Jin Ping Mei to the poetic production of Xu Wei, but left this task to future scholars. Neat ink ownership inscription to front free endpaper of Anthony Christie, Professor at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies, Lecturer in Art and Archaeology of South East Asia 1953-77, Senior Lecturer in Art and Archaeology of South East Asia 1977-86 and Secretary of the Royal Anthropological Institute of London 1961-70, dated 26/10/1941, and purchased from the English Book Store in Abbottabad.. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Good/No Jacket.