Fountain of Youth
Patrick Lafcadio Hearn is a well-known writer from the late 1800's until his death in 1904. He was born in 1850 on the Greek island, Leucadio; has lived in Ireland, Paris, New York, Cincinnati, New Orleans, the West Indies and then moved to Japan. He began his career as a journalist in Cincinnati for the Cincinnati Daily Enquirer but was expelled socially and lost his job for his choice of mistress. In 1877 he left for New Orleans and worked for the Daily City Item and then Times Democrat. There he was fascinated by the Creoles, studied and wrote about their literature, cooking and folksongs. He then left there and went to Martinique in the West Indies where he wrote Two Years in the French West Indies and Youma, The Story of a West-Indian Slave in 1890. Afterwards he returned to New York and discovered that he hated it and so he left for Japan, never to return. When he moved to Japan he married the daughter of a samurai family, became a teacher, then a Professor of English Literature. He and his wife had four children and he adapted the Japanese lifestyle completely and became a citizen, taking on the name Koizumi Yakumo. Here he wrote most of his more well-known works and took upon himself the task of interepreting the East. His most well known works include Out of the East, Dust, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, collections of Japanese legends & ghost stories. More information can be found about Hearn in a New York Times newspaper article from 1931, which is also included with this set of books, and other various avenues. Hearn was truly a fascinating man and his work in the Japanese Fairy Tales is truly remarkable. Hearn's stories are still available and continued to be printed today.
Takejiro Hasegawa is the printer/publisher of these books. He lived from 1853-1938 in Japan and had a long association with Western missionaries in Tokyo. Through this he started the woodblock printing of the books in Western languages. What is believed to be his first publication is the Writings of Buddha - November 26, 1884. The following year he launched the Fairy Tale Series. Most of his books produced were produced on a limited number from only 500 - 1000. He printed postcards, pictorial reproductions of art, calendars, albums of prints, menus and individual prints. During the 1920's his focus was more on the color woodblock prints. Under the Nishinomiya name he did the famous "Night Scene" series of prints, a variety of Hasegawa books and reprinted some of the Fairy Tale series, mostly crepe paper versions. The first and second series of Japanese Fairy Tale books by Hearn were sold in a 5 book set in a blue folding case with bone/ivory pin closures.
The Fountain of Youth was intended to be part of the second series (1899-1903), but due to the strange relationship with Hearn it was "misplaced" and not published until 1922. Hearn was very interested in translating and writing the stories. He first contacted Hasegawa in 1894 suggesting a new fairy tale series. Hasegawa was not as interested in Hearn's work as Hearn had anticipated. Before Hearn's death in 1904, Hasegawa only published 4 of his works. After Hearn's death Hasegawa published only one more of his works - The Fountain of Youth. To further complicate matters, the stock was destroyed in a fire caused by an earthquake.
Hasegawa went to great lengths for all of his books to be of very high quality. He had several authors, translators, a group of artists, text printer and woodblock artist. Even with all of these people working for him he was careful to oversee all of the work. They were bound using the "pouch binding" method. Using this method the paper is printed on one side then folded with the print side out. The pages are then stacked together in order and bound opposite of the folds which leaves the pages open at the top and bottom. Traditionally four small holes are made along the spine, then bound with string or tie. Hasegawa generally used a stab type of binding consisting of two holes and secured with silk string or ribbon ties. The paper used was high quality wood, usually Mulberry. Most of Hasegawa's books were of crepe paper, first the paper was made, printed, creped and then bound. All five of Lafcadio Hearn's books were sold together as a set in a blue cloth case and fastened with bone/ivory clips.
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