The Life of an Amorous Woman and Other Writings.

New York, NY New Directions , 1969. Paperback First Edition Thus (1969); Thirteenth Printing. Near Fine in Wraps: shows only the most minute indications of use: just a hint of wear to extremities; mildest rubbing. Binding square and secure; text clean. Free of creases to the panels. Free of creases to the backstrip. Free of any creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome, nearly-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing a minor, unobtrusive imperfection. Bright and clean. Corners sharp. Very close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (8 x 5.25 x 1.05 inches). 233 pages. Edited and Translated from the Japanese by Ivan Morris. Illustrated with duotone woodblock illustrations. Language: English. Weight: 15.5 ounces. NDP 270. First Edition Thus (1969); Thirteenth Printing. Unesco Collection of Representative Literary Works. Trade Paperback. Ihara Saikaku (circa 1623 –1693) was a Japanese poet and creator of the "floating world" genre of Japanese prose. He was of the great fiction writers of Japan, who wrote of the lowest class in the Tokugawa world-the townsmen who were rising in wealth and power but not in official status. The title story in this collection of 12 works, told by an aging beauty whose highly erotic nature is her constant undoing, ranges over all of 17th century Japanese life. The narrator is successively wife, court lady, courtesan, priest’s concubine, mistress of a feudal lord and streetwalker. Ivan Morris has done a brilliant translation, an introduction, extensive notes, bibliography and two essays on social customs of the period.