SHADES OF THE PAST OR INDISCREET TALES OF JAPAN Decorations by Jean Williams. Second Printing.

FIRST EDITION. 8vo. 5.25 x 7.75. 357 pp. Bound in original yellow cloth with red titles, in pictorial dust wrapper, which has small chips at the head of a slightly sunned spine, Patterned endpapers. Deckled edges. A very good copy. Signed by author on first free endpaper. Illustrated by 8 black and white plates and half title and endpiece vignettes by Jean Williams. Tales of Japan, including the Foreign Settlements or Concessions following the opening of the country to foreign trade in 1859. They originally appeared in the Mainichi newspaper in Japan from 1953-58 in the Shades of the Past series, and have been revised and partly rewritten. At the end is a note about the author, a chronological table and a glossary. Harold Stannett Williams (1898-1987) was an Australian who spent most of his adult life, pursuing a successful commercial career in Japan interrupted only by his Pacific war service. He was a prolific writer on Japan, specialising in the history of the foreign settlements. He donated his large research collection to the National Library of Australia. HISTORY/THEOLOGY JAPAN HISTORY 19TH CENTURY 20TH CENTURY ASIA SIGNED HISTORY/THEOLOGY. …