KOTTO: Being Japanese Curios, With Sundry Cobwebs. [! Red Title Page Border Upsi

New York 1902, Macmillan. Olive decorated cloth, top edge gilt, very clean & solid, gold, black & green cover & spine, 251p., 14 x 21 cm.,contents clean,small indent on back cover else ok. * WITH RED TITLE PAGE BORDER PRINTED UPSIDE DOWN * . *** **** *** . . FIRST EDITION . . . WITH RED TITLE PAGE BORDER PRINTED UPSIDE DOWN . . * There are two variants to the FIRST EDITION, the earliest is with the red-ink title page border by Genjiro Yeto printed UPSIDE DOWN, as indicated by his name Hanko [seal/chop] being in the upper right corner. . The second variant was the correction to this error by printing that red border right side up, with the Hanko at the lower left corner. . *** The title "KOTTO" means "Old Things" in Japanese, in essence in this case Hearn used this name to indicate old ghostly stories, strange Japanese beliefs, bizarre folk-tales, superstitious short stories, covering ghouls, goblins and of the dead. . *** THE ILLUSTRATIONS: The book has a black & white photo frontispiece of a Japanese grave yard and tombs. with other red Japanese illustrations: 20 full page illustration before each story, and 33 text illustrations. . All red ink drawings by Genjiro Yeto, each with his Hanko with & '1902' date, one drawing before each story. . THE ARTIST: YETO GENJIRO [1867-1924]: Yeto was an eminent Japanese painter of the period, he was also a well know book illustrator, illustrating many books by foreign authors. . He came to America in 1873 with the Chicago Columbia Exposition World Fair. After that he went to New York and became an art student at ART STUDENT LEAGUE OF NEW YORK, in 1896 he went to the Cos Cob art colony as an art student at the Bush-Holly house in Greenwich, Connecticut, introducing Japanese style painting techniques and style. He also illustrated books not only by Hearn, but by Yone Noguchi as well. See the links below. . *** THE CONTENTS: . THE LEGEND OF YUREI-DAKI . IN A CUP OF TEA . COMMON SENSE . IKIRYO . SHIRYO . THE STORE OF O-KAME . STORY OF A FLY . STORY OF A PHEASANT . THE STORY OF CHUGORO . A WOMAN'S DIARY . HEIKE-GANI . FIREFLIES . A DROP OF DEW . GAKI . A MATTER OF CUSTOM . REVERY . PATHOLOGICAL . IN THE DEAD OF THE NIGHT . THE EATER OF DREAMS . *** Color scans are posted to our website. . *** BINDING & CONDITION: Generic: This book is bound in the original publisher's olive cloth with gold-stamped author & titles on the front and spine, with a green, black & gold-stamped decorations. The top edge is gilt, the fore and lower edges are untrimmed. . Being over 118 years old, this book will have some of the usual signs of age, minor corner, spine head & tail and edge wear. For the most part copies are above the average. . Each copy can vary in condition, please carefully read the description notes for each separate copy prior to ordering. . Contents of each example are brilliantly clean, no marks or issues. . *** SPECIFIC COPY NOTES:: . Copy 1 has a small round embossed stamp on the lower title page corner "PRESENTATION COPY," probably given to the press as a 'review' copy by the publisher for publicity. * Copy 2 is very clean, with the usual smallest bit of spine head/tail & corner wear, else no issues. * Copy 3 has a very small light red stain near the lower left edge, not a major detraction, else no issues. * Copy 4 has a small indent bump on the back cover ca. 3 cm. in length, barely deep, with a few small light discoloration spots also on the back cover, else no issues. * Copy 5 has 2 former owner's signatures. The first is an important signature, by the eminent and celebrated Major General Bonner Fellers of World War 2 occupied Japan fame. . Fellers was U.S. Army Brigadier General Bonner F. Fellers [1896-1973], an officer who served during World War II as military attaché and psychological warfare director, who had joined General MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Command in Australia in late 1943. After having worked for a year in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), predecessor of the CIA. . Maj. General Fellers was a military attaché in Tokyo prior to World War II, and had tracked down the Koizumi [Hearn] family, including Hearn's wife Setsuko and first son, Kazuo. Bonner Fellers struck up a close friendship with the family. Fellers had been a student of Lafcadio Hearn's writings, and in 1934-35, after being very impressed with Hearn's insights about the Japanese character, wrote a monograph:" THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE JAPANESE SOLDIER, based in large on Hearn's writings. Eventually this essay was read by MacArthur who was greatly impressed with Feller's expertise on Japan. . At the end of World War II with the defeat of Japan Maj. Gen Fellers arrived in Japan with MacArthur's staff. Fellers was immediately appointed guardian to Emperor Hirohito. and went to work to protect Hirohito from the role he had played during and at the end of the war. Fellers's overriding goals were to confirm the effectiveness of his own wartime propaganda program, and, at the same time, to shield Hirohito from standing at the war crimes tribunal. . Fellers was considered the most reliable Japan expert and the single-most influential person on MacArthur's staff concerning the Emperor. Fellers was MacArthur's military advisor. . For his remarkable contribution to the early end of the war and influencing Emperor Hirohito into subduing the Japanese population for American occupation, he received the Army's Distinguished Service Medal [DSO]. . Immediately after the war, Fellers brought food and vital supplies to the deprived and starving Koizumi family. On page 22 is an historic photograph taken just after the war in 1945 of the Koizumi family at Hearn's grave site. It shows Hearn's wife Setsuko, son Toki, Maj. Gen Fellers & Kazuo. . A movie starring Tommy Lee Jones: "EMPEROR" was issued in 2012, where Jones played General Douglas MacArthur, Matthew Fox played Feller's part. See link below for the full story plot. ... The second signature is an unsung person's name. . The spine is a bit dull, spine head & tail are a bit worn & rubbed, corners a bit rolled in, else no issues. . * Copy 6 spine is dull, it has a small scuff line to front cover and a larger scuff to back cover, polished out a bit, else no issues.. . *** Color photos are posted to our website. . *** REFERENCE: . Perkins pp.44-45 . BAL 7938 * YETO GENJIRO: see Wikipedia dot org/wiki/q11551318 . home dot EarthLink dot net /~jsfc/Genjiro dot html . * .