HELL SCREEN by AKUTAGAWA, RYUNOSUKE - 1948

New. Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil. Akutagawa was one of the towering figures of modern Japanese literature, and is considered the father of the Japanese short story. This paradigmatic selection, which includes the stories that inspired Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon, showcases the terrible beauty, cynicism, sublime pain and absurd humour of his writing. 'One never tires of reading and re-reading his best works. The elegantly spare style has a truly… Read More

Paperback. Very Good.

Japan: Hokuseido Press, 1948. Book. Very Good. Hard Cover with Dust Jacket. 1st English Edition. Short stories, translated from the Japanese. Printed in Occupied Japan. 177 pages, with two fold-out colour illustrations with protective tissue paper and a black & white illustration on page 177. BOOK: Binding is sound; illustrated boards are clean; shelfwear; softening to spine ends; some abrasion to spine heel; all corners lightly inflected; 'Sample Copy' stamp on FFEP; ink signature & date on half-title page; distributor stamp on title-page; mild scattered foxing across the edges of the text-block. JACKET: Edgewear; tattering to spine ends, with 1cm x 1cm chip at spine heel; 'V' chipping to hinge corners; several tears, ranging from 4mm to 2.5cm; some abrasion to hinges. Photo on request..

The Hokuseido Press, 1948. Translated from the Japanese by W. H. H. Norman. Scarce with the dustjacket. 2 fold-out illustrations. 177 pp. Small stains along bottom edges. Grey endpapers, with previous owner's inscription on ffep. Illustrated paper-covered boards. Corners lightly bumped, light wear along the edges. Illustrated DJ. Chips and wear along the edges. VG-/GOOD+. First Edition. Hard Cover. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.

Greenwood Press Publishing -, 1971. Hardcover/pub.1971/Gd. condition/177 pages - Presents four novels and short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. [AN830376]. Hard Cover. Good.