Memoirs of a Geisha
by Arthur Golden
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- As New In a Like Dust Jacket
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Seller
-
West Jeddore, Nova Scotia, Canada
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1997. Ivory boards to the burgandy binding the titles in dark copper gilding to the spine in English and in what appears to be in ("Mandarin /Japanese") to the front.An as new and tight copy edges are roughcut.Printed on an offwhite stock.There are no marks of any kind.Authors first book.. First Edition Stated. 1/4 Back Cloth Hard Cover. As New In a Like Dust Jacket. Illus. by Jacket By Barbara de Wilde. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.
Synopsis
Memoirs of a Geisha is a novel by Arthur Golden, published in 1997. The novel, told in first-person view, tells the fictional story of a geisha working in Kyoto, Japan, before and after World War II.
Reviews
On Jan 16 2014, a reader said:
Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden, is a warm, happy read. It is the story of a Japanese girl whose father sells her and her sister to strangers as her mother dies. Her older sister is sold into prostitution, and our heroine, Chiyo, only nine years old at the time, is sold to a geisha household in Kyoto, and expected to become a geisha. We discover that, at this time, becoming a geisha requires years of schooling. Chiyo studies various instruments, singing, dancing, and the tea ceremony, so that she can become an entertainer of men in tea houses. Eventually, she is adopted as a “younger sister” by Mameha, a first-rank geisha. All of this occurs before the Great Depression and the Second World War. During that terrible period, everyone in Japan underwent great hardships. The geisha profession was legally abolished. Chiyo, by now known by her geisha name of Sayuri, spent the war years sewing parachutes in a former kimono maker’s home and shop. After the war, she eventually was able to return to her geisha life. The story of her success, largely guided by Mameha, and her own desire to become worthy of a man she has fallen in love with, is very endearing. Somewhat to our surprise, she eventually comes to live in the USA, along with her lover. We suspect, although we are never told outright, that she has an American son. She tells her story verbally over a period of months to a sympathetic writer. This is a hard book to put down; the action is so real, and the writing so lyrical, that we feel we must keep reading until we know the end.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Mulberry Books (CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 901368
- Title
- Memoirs of a Geisha
- Author
- Arthur Golden
- Illustrator
- Jacket By Barbara de Wilde
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- New
- Edition
- First Edition Stated
- ISBN 10
- 0375400117
- ISBN 13
- 9780375400117
- Publisher
- Alfred A Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1997
- Keywords
- Geisha
- Bookseller catalogs
- Fiction;
- Size
- 8vo
Terms of Sale
Mulberry Books
All books are packed and mailed by insured post.Any book may be returned if not as described and postage both ways will be paid by Mulberry Books.Please advise us of any books you wish to return.
About the Seller
Mulberry Books
Biblio member since 2005
West Jeddore, Nova Scotia
About Mulberry Books
We are a small knowledgeable books seller with many years experience.Our shop is located in West Jeddore, Nova Scotia,Canada. All requests and E-mails are replyed to promptly.Call us for inform ation we are happy to help.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...