GULIK, Robert van (author and illustrator). The Red Pavilion: A Chinese Detective Story. Kuala Lumpur: Art Printing Works. 1961.
8vo. Publisher’s illustrated soft card covers, illustrated endpapers with a map of “Paradise Island”; pp. [8], 200, with 6 illustrations by the author; a little shelf wear, top-right corner of front free endpaper with minor wear, light spotting and toning to white back cover, small bookseller’s stamp to front free endpaper, round stain to outer margin of pp. 134-139; near fine.
First edition of the eighth Judge Dee novel.
After an unexpected encounter with the most famous courtesan on Paradise Island, Judge Dee is drawn into a web of deception and intrigue. A man studying for the Imperial exams dies under mysterious circumstances, and shortly thereafter the courtesan herself is found dead. Judge Dee must navigate the dark underbelly of Poo-Yang to unravel the truth behind these deaths.
Judge Dee is based on the seventh-century Tang Dynasty magistrate, Di Renjie. Van Gulik first encountered this historical figure in the anonymous eighteenth-century Dee Goong An, which he translated into English in 1949. He continued to develop Dee in his original detective fiction thereafter. A diplomat and scholar of sinology, Van Gulik incorporated his research into the novels, as well as providing illustrations. This volume includes six exquisite woodblock-style illustrations by the author.
Evers, p. 56.
SKU: 2124226