Second edition (after the printing of a displayed copy in 1948), no. 26 of 50 copies, signed. Printed entirely in woodblock with hand colouring. 205 by 150mm. Yamato-toji binding, original hand-coloured woodblock wrappers, with woodblock print to recto, original woodblock printed red chemise with colour woodblock printed title slip, additional dust jacket printed in woodblock on red paper (from 1971), small ink marks to upper cover, very faint occasional foxing, overall a good copy. Unpaginated,[2], [16], [2]pp. Tochigi, privately published, 1948, [but, 1955.
The biblical story of Adam and Eve, told in Kawakami Sumio's characteristic East-meets-West style.
The story begins with God's creation of Adam and Eve, followed by the depiction of the serpent wrapped around the apple tree in the Garden of Eden, where they commit man's first mortal sin. After their fall, they are depicted wearing kimono and in the very last plate they are holding their son (presumably Cain).
Christianity is a recurring theme in Kawakami's work. He was fascinated by the influence of the Portuguese in Japan and the harsh treatment of Christian during the Edo period, but more broadly his work draws on the theme of Western influence in Japan. Many of his books contain Christian motifs, such as churches, angels and the Virgin Mary, but this book is entirely biblical.
Like Kawakami's Pan and Nymph, the very first edition of this book was printed in 1948 for the 22nd Kokugakai exhibition, though in this case it is not clear how many of these were made. According to the bibliography, the first edition was exhibited in a 'temporary binding' and it was only seven years later that a larger edition was made. It is for this reason that the colophon (slightly confusingly) states 1948. A third edition of 100 copies was made in 1971 with a different binding and case. The present copy is the second edition, together with the additional dust jacket from 1971, which have been paired by a previous owner.
Rare. No copies in OCLC.
