Fine Books and Manuscripts

[Anonymous] Dee Goong An: Three Murder Cases Solved by Judge Dee. An old Chinese detective novel from the original Chinese with an introduction and notes by R.H. van Galik. Tokyo: Printed for the Author by Toppan Printing Company, (1949). First translated edition. Limited to 1,200 copies, this being No. 506; signed by the translator and with his red seal. Publisher’s pictorial boards executed by color woodblock printing in the style of Chinese theatrical posters, rear cover inscription in the archaic “chancery script,” spine titled and decorated in pastel red and green, original plain paper jacket. Portrait frontispiece of Judge Dee plus 8 full-page woodcuts by author. 8vo. [10], iv, xxiii, [1], 237pp., [1 blank]. Light rubbing at spine ends, jacket toned and with dust soiling. An unusually fine and bright example with the original scarce dust jacket. Van Gulik, a Dutch diplomat in Japan after the Second World War, translated the anonymously written 18th century Chinese story Di Gong An (or Dee Goong An), having found a copy in a Tokyo bookstore. The story was based loosely on those of Di Renjie, a 7th century county magistrate and statesman of the Tang court. Van Gulik built off of the famous protagonist, writing his popular series of Judge Dee stories over the next 20 years.