GULIK, Robert van; Yukio OGAERI (translator). Meiro No Satsujin [The Chinese Maze Murders].

GULIK, Robert van; Yukio OGAERI (translator). Meiro No Satsujin [The Chinese Maze Murders]. Tokoyo: Kodansha. “1951” [i.e. 1950].

8vo. Publisher’s illustrated card covers lettered in red to front cover and spine, bright red endpapers; pp. [5], 1-4, 1-11, [1], 1-475, [14], with illustrated title page and 18 full-page illustrations; some toning and light spotting to edges of text block, slight rubbing to spine hinges and edges, minor internal spotting, p. 433 with a tear (c. 1.5 × 4.5 cm); very good; Chinese seal-stamp, or tjap, “Keo Lo-P’ei” to copyright page.

The first published appearance of the second novel in the Judge Dee series.

Although written in English, the novel first appeared in this Japanese translation by Professor Yukio Ogaeri, a close friend of Van Gulik. Like many of the Judge Dee books, it draws on three separate traditional cases. Illustrated throughout by the author, this edition includes the illustration of a chained woman being whipped (p. 442), suppressed in later editions.

Evers, p. 51.

SKU: 2122743