EMPRESS ORCHID by Min, Anchee - 2004

New York City, NY: Houghton And Mifflin, 2004. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Houghton And Mifflin, 2004. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 335 pages. The author's historical novel. One of Anchee Min's finest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Anchee Min's "Empress Orchid". A magisterial and sympathetic fictional account on the Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi, which is Chinese for Orchid, the most powerful figure of the last forty-five years of the Ching Dynasty, and mother of Pu Yi, the Last Emperor. "This heroine comes down to us with a diabolical reputation: A woman who seized power through sexual seduction, murder, and intrigue. But historical fact tells a different story. Based on copious research, this is a vivid portrait of a flawed yet utterly compelling woman who survived in a male world, a woman whose struggle was not to hold on to power, but to her own humanity. Richly detailed and completely gripping, a novel of high drama and lyricism" (Publisher's blurb). "She has done a prodigious amount of research to capture the glorious, hopeless last days of the Ching Dynasty. Readers will be enthralled by the gorgeously woven cultural tapestry and the psychologically astute portrait of the Empress" (Publishers Weekly). Anchee Min is herself a genuine legend: She barely survived China's Cultural Revolution, attempting to commit suicide, among other desperate measures, before managing to flee to the United States, where she learned to read, speak, and write English by watching "Sesame Street". Her China Trilogy - "Becoming Madame Mao", "Empress Orchid", and "The Last Empress" - is regarded as a contemporary classic. An absolute "must-have" title for Anchee Min collectors. <b><i> This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, in Chinese-calligraphy style, in black pen on the title page by Anchee Min. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. </b></i> One of the finest Chinese-American writers of our time. A fine copy. . ISBN 0618068872.