[DAVIS, F. HADLAND]. Myths & Legends of Japan. London: George G. Harrap & Company, 1912.
FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION; cloth-bound, hardcover, octavo (22 x 14.5 x 4 cm), pp. 432. English text, with illustrations by Evelyn Paul. Bound in publisher's original blue diagonal-grain cloth, spine and front cover elaborately blocked in gilt and silver with "bamboo font" lettering and illustrations of a dragon and a female goddess riding a peacock, top edge gilt, fore and bottom edges uncut, initial and terminal blanks plus half-title present, title-page printed in brown and black, with thirty-two full-page colour illustrations, bibliography, glossary and index to rear. Printed by Ballantyne & Company Ltd. Condition: VERY GOOD. Binding tight, secure and square, with the hinges and joints intact. Covers very well-preserved with slight bumping to spine ends. Contents complete and largely clean with spotting to endpapers and page edges. Previous owner signature to front endpaper. Scarce.
Notes: Rare first edition, first impression. The 31 chapters address themes such as "Buddha legends", "thunder", and "legends of the sea" and are accompanied by a number of reference appendices. The author was inspired to study Japanese mythology by reading the scholar Lafcadio Hearn. Myths and Legends of Japan was one of the 12 works published in Harrap's "Myths" series between 1907 and 1917. The artist, Evelyn Paul (1883-1963), was a book illustrator and illuminator whose distinctive style was influenced by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
