The Tokyo Home for Ex-Convicts by Benjamin Chappell
[Japan] A fine example of this scarce work with woodblock printed crepe paper covers that reports on the success of a home founded by Hara Taneaki (1853-1942) for reformed criminals. Hara was baptised by the American minister Christopher Carrothers in 1874 and it is said that Hara held a Christmas party as a thank-you at Carrother's wife Julia's school in Tsukiji and, apparently, this was the first ever appearance of Santa Claus in Japan. Also in 1874, he founded a Christian bookstore named Jujiya, and in 1876, Seiki School, run by Julia Carrothers, was reorganized and renamed Hara Girls' School. Around 1879 he opened a nishiki-e wholesale business in Kanda, Tokyo, that mainly published works by Kiyochika Kobayashi. He spent time in prison for publishing some controversial prints with content the government didn't like and this experience led to his founding of the home to help ex-prisoners. The preface by Chappell in this particular volume is dated 1 January, 1901, and is slightly different from an earlier issue that has a preface dated 16 March, 1900. One of the half-tone photos is not present in our edition but a few others that aren't captioned in the earlier issue are captioned in this one. This edition also has a pink leaf explaining the illustrations on the covers, which doesn't seem to have been present in the earlier printing. Both issues are very scarce and even more so in such fine condition. The crepe paper covers are almost certainly by Hasegawa Takejiro who published a couple of calendars with text by Benjamin Chappell.
Aoyama, Tokyo. The Methodist Publishing House. [1901].
pp.[2], 28pp + 11 halftone photographs (2 double-page). 17.8 x 11.8cm.
In fine condition with only a hint of age wear. b36021559
