Return to Japan

First edition, first impression.  288pp.  Bound in blue cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering on front and spine, titles on white relief on spine.  8vo.  Cloth just a little rubbed on edges and at spine base.  Some faint spotting on text block edges else neat, clean, bright and tight.  In its original worn and chapped dust wrapper, with some chipping and scuffing around spine, minor loss on corners and a hint of discolouration on rear panel.

After leaving Japan in 1950, following four years as a tutor to the Crown Prince, Elizabeth Gray Vining made two return visits.  The first was in 1957 when for six weeks she travelled widely and visited the royal family.  The second, made in a fanfare of publicity, was in April 1959 when she was the on;ly non-Japanese guest to attend the Crown Prince’s wedding.  Return to Japan is a candid account of those visits told with warmth and humour.