Love Under the Willows; (A Sczechuan Opera)
Peking: Foreign Language Press, 1956. First Edition in English. Hardcover. A Near Fine to Fine copy of the First English Edition, First Printing of this Chinese folk legend, a tale that originated in the East Tain Dynasty (A.D. 317-420) and which describes a young girl (Chu Ying-tai) who disguised herself as a boy so that she would be permitted to attend school. She there became close to one of her male classmates, Liang Shan-po, but she left school before completing her studies. The pair later met again and he discovered for the first time that his former fellow student was a girl. He then sought his parents' permission to propose marriage to her but, before he could proposed to her, her own father offered her in marriage to a member of the Ma family. Liang Shan-po, after becoming a Magistrate, died. Chu Ying-tai then visited his grave to make a sacrifice. His grave then opened up and engulfed her and the two became butterflies. This is a mildly askew, but Near Fine to Fine, copy of this ancient tale bound in illustrated light-yellow cloth with some rounding to the leading corners and a slight curve to the front board and a prior owner's ownership note to the front pastedown, in a Fine illustrated dust jacket with some pushing to the upper spine and rear panel. The text is in English and is illustrated with black and white photographs of a stage production. Copies of this work are scarce to the market and this is the nicest copy we ever have seen. Fine / fine. Item #3548
Price: $145.00