Concerning Lafcadio Hearn Part 29

Pages 40-42 Indexes.

Articles and Reviews:--

_Nation, The_, April 23, 1885, vol. 40, p. 349.

No. 3.

1887. SOME CHINESE GHOSTS. By Lafcadio Hearn. (Chinese Characters.) Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1887. 16mo., p. (8) 185, brown cloth with Chinese mask on cover, red top.

Facing t.i.tle-page:--

_If ye desire to witness prodigies and to behold marvels, be not concerned as to whether the mountains are distant or the rivers far away._

Kin-Kou-Ki-Koan.

(2) Dedication:--

To my Friend, HENRY EDWARD KREHBIEL The Musician, who, speaking the speech of melody unto the children of Tien-hia,-- unto the wandering Tsing-jin, whose skins have the colour of gold,-- moved them to make strange sounds upon the serpent-bellied San-hien; persuaded them to play for me upon the shrieking Ya-hien; prevailed on them to sing me a song of their native land,-- the song of Mohli-hwa, the song of the jasmine-flower.

(Sketch of Chinaman's head.)

(Reverse) Chinese Character.

(3-4) Preface.

I think that my best apology for the insignificant size of this volume is the very character of the material composing it. In preparing the legends I sought especially for _weird beauty_; and I could not forget this striking observation in Sir Walter Scott's "Essay on Imitations of the Ancient Ballad": "The supernatural, though appealing to certain powerful emotions very widely and deeply sown amongst the human race, is, nevertheless, _a spring which is peculiarly apt to lose its elasticity by being too much pressed upon_." Those desirous to familiarize themselves with Chinese literature as a whole have had the way made smooth for them by the labours of linguists like Julien, Pavie, Remusat, De Rosny, Schlegel, Legge, Hervey-Saint-Denys, Williams, Biot, Giles, Wylie, Beal, and many other Sinologists. To such great explorers indeed, the realm of Cathayan story belongs by right of discovery and conquest; yet the humbler traveller who follows wonderingly after them into the vast and mysterious pleasure-grounds of Chinese fancy may surely be permitted to cull a few of the marvellous flowers there growing,--a self-luminous _hwa-w.a.n.g_, a black lily, a phosphoric rose or two,--as souvenirs of his curious voyage.

L. H. New Orleans, March 15, 1886.

(5) Contents:--

The Soul of the Great Bell The Story of Ming-Y The Legend of Tchi-Niu The Return of Yen Tchin-King The Tradition of the Tea-Plant The Tale of the Porcelain G.o.d

Appendix:--

Notes. Glossary.

New Edition. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1906, 12mo.

Articles and Reviews:--

Charles W. Coleman, Jr., _Harper's Monthly_, May, 1887, vol. 74, p. 855.

_Nation, The_, May 26, 1887, vol. 44, p. 456.

No. 4.

1889. CHITA: a Memory of Last Island. By Lafcadio Hearn

"_But Nature whistled with all her winds, Did as she pleased, and went her way._"

--Emerson.

New York: Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square, 1889. 12mo., 3 p. l., pp.

204, terra-cotta cloth, decorated.

(Published first in _Harper's Monthly_, April, 1888.)

(1) Dedication:--

To my Friend DR. RODOLFO MATAS of New Orleans

(2) Contents:--

Part I The Legend of L'ile Derniere

Part II Out of the Sea's Strength

Part III The Shadow of the Tide

(Reverse)

_Je suis la vaste melee,-- Reptile, etant l onde; ailee, etant le vent,-- Force et fuite, haine et vie, Houle immense, poursuivie Et poursuivant._ --Victor Hugo.

Articles and Reviews:--

_Boston Evening Transcript, The_, November 2, 1889.

Hutson, Charles Woodward, _Poet-Lore_, Spring, 1905, vol. 16, p. 53.

No. 5.

1890. YOUMA. The Story of a West-Indian Slave. By Lafcadio Hearn.

(Publisher's Vignette.) New York: Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square, 1890.

12mo., 1 p. l., pp. 193, frontispiece ill.u.s.tration, red cloth.

(Published first in _Harper's Monthly_, January-February, 1890.)

(1) Dedication:--

To my friend JOSEPH S. TUNISON.

The Same. London: Sampson, Low and Company, 1890, 8vo.

Articles and Reviews:--

_Athenaeum, The_, August 30, 1890, p. 284.