Madame Butterfly by John Luther Long - 1903 Edition - Antique Book, Japan, Japanese Culture, Tea Houses, Geisha, 1900s

1903 Grosset & Dunlap edition of Madame Butterfly by John Luther Long. A Geisha falls in love with an American Naval officer who uses her and leaves her and their child.

Written by John Luther Long. Illustrated by C. Yarnall Abbott. October, 1903 Japanese edition. Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, New York.

MADAME BUTTERFLY
Chapter II, page 12
Mr. B. F. Pinkerton - And His Way

"At first she decided to run away from him. But this, she reflected, would not probably please her relatives, since they had unanimously agreed upon the marriage for her. Besides, she preferred to remain. She had acquired a strange liking for Pinkerton and her new way of life. Finally she undertook a weak remonstrance - a very strong one, in fact, for a Japanese wife; but Pinkerton encouraged her pretty domestic autonomy. Her airs of authority were charming. And they grew more and more so."

Pinkerton, an American naval officer, takes Cho-Cho-San as his 'wife' and sets up house, as was often done. But he was a dissolute husband, knowing it was a temporary arrangement of convenience, and cruelly isolates her from her family, who disown her as a result. When Pinkerton ships off, he simply leaves her and her maid, Suzuki, and in his absence Cho-Cho-San has a baby boy. Torn between waiting for him to return and divorcing him to marry a prince and reunite with her family, she waits for Pinkerton to return. When he does, she learns that he and his American wife have returned to take the baby. Suzuki stops her from committing suicide, and they take the baby and disappear.

Lawyer and author John Luther Long (1861 - 1927) based the story of a Japanese Geisha's misplaced love for an American naval officer on his sister Jennie Correll's recollections from her time in Japan with her husband, a Methodist missionary.

The geisha's life is to entertain men through the ancient Japanese traditions of art, dance, and singing. They dress in a kimono and distinctive white makeup, called oshiroi.

The beautiful Arts & Crafts cover decoration, signed with a "Y" in the bottom right corner, is by Japanese artist Genjiro Yeto.

C. Yarnall Abbott (1870 - 1938) was a photographer and painter whose work reflects elements of the Arts & Crafts Movement.

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Condition*: Good. Lacks dust jacket, as issued. Embossed green cloth cover boards with green and white water lily decoration: Light rubbing of white flower decoration; lightly bumped corners; light edgewear; chipped at tail of the spine; frayed at head of the spine; moisture stains on back; top left corner frayed on back. Inside: Name handwritten in ink on front fly leaf; pages lightly tanned; dark staining on the top right corner of the back textblock affects pages 45 - 152.

* Based on Guidelines of the Independent Online Booksellers' Association.