Kohana San

Tokyo, Japan (10 Hiyoshicho): T. Hasegawa. Good+ with no dust jacket. 1892. First Edition. Soft. An original Japanese crepe paper book, printed in 1892 - Meiji era. Condition: Generally Good plus to Very good minus, with some light foxing (light yellowy/brown spots here and there) and some creasing (as usual with crepe paper). This is a Hasegawa crepe paper book with music and text/lyrics depicting Kohan-san - a Geisha of Kobe. With Lovely Colour Woodblock Illustrations throughout. 24 pp - including the covers. Printed 1892. Actual size (8" x 6 3/4 " - 20 cm x 17 cm) , with greyish silk ties. An illustrated story of Kohana-san (Little Flower) , a Geisha of Kobe, presented in song and woodblock illustrations. Music and verse, written by F. M. Bostwick, US Navy , and sung to the tune of "Ballyhooly." Front cover reads, "T. Hasegawa, Kelly & Walsh, Ltd, Yokohama, Tokyo, 1892." Twelve pages of double-folded crepe paper = a total of 24 pages (front and back cover included in the count). Of the 24 pages, almost all have colour wood block illustrations varying from a border to a full colour double page complete illustration. The first part of the book is a musical score (sung to the tune of "Ballyhooly"). The score is followed by fully illustrated additional sets of lyrics/poetry. Last page is "List of Books" published by T. Hasegawa. Inside the back cover is a listing of the "Japanese Fairy Tale Series" (1-20) and the "Aino Fairy Tale Series" (1-3). The book is in Good Plus/Very Good Minus condition. The front and back covers have wrinkling to the edges as usual, and there are tears at the front edges of the front and rear covers - with no loss - plus a small 'nick' to the bottom front inner edge of the front cover. There is a 1cm tear on the blank bottom of page 3. There is a light stain to some blank corners, but hardly noticable on most. All pages are generally very clean, apart from some light scattered foxing here and there, more noticably around the edges and the last few pages. Overall a very tight clean (apart from light foxing) example of a Meiji era Japanese crepe book. See Images. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .