HEARN, Lafcadio "Some Chinese Ghosts" [Little, Brown, & Co, 1917]

HEARN, Lafcadio. Some Chinese Ghosts.

Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1917. 7.25" x 5". 203pp. Original publisher’s blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt within decorative panel. Cloth clean and even in color (spine tone matches cover; need to update photo with better lighting), with minor rubbing at spine ends and corners. Gilt bright. Text block clean, with light, even toning consistent with age. Lacking dust jacket. Very Good.

Lafcadio Hearn’s retellings of Chinese legends occupy a distinct place in his body of work, bridging his better-known Japanese writings and his broader project of transmitting East Asian folklore to Western audiences. Published late in his career and shortly after his death, Some Chinese Ghosts reflects early 20th-century Western fascination with Chinese myth, religion, and moral allegory, presented through Hearn’s characteristic literary voice rather than strict ethnography. An appealing example of Little, Brown’s restrained trade bindings from the period.