This is a very nice clean Meiji-era crêpe copy of of N°4 in Takejiro Hasegawa's Japanese Fairy Tale series, 'THE OLD MAN WHO MADE THE DEAD TREES BLOSSOM.'. Illustration for the book was likely done by Kobayashi Eitaku, pupil of Kyosai and Yoshitoshi. The publication date for the volume is likely 1889. The publisher is listed as Kobunsha, with address listed as 'No.2 Minami Saegicho, TOKYO.' REFERENCE: http://www.baxleystamps.com/litho/hasegawa/hase_4_1889.shtml ON THE SERIES: "Takejiro Hasegawa is known for producing a series of beautifully illustrated, multilingual books featuring traditional Japanese folktales and stories. These books were created with the aim of introducing Japanese culture to a Western audience. The illustrations in these books are notable for their vibrant colors and traditional Japanese artistic style." ON THE STORY: "Hanasaki Jiji (The old man who made the dead trees blossom) tells the tale of a nice old married couple who keep a pet dog. One day when they dig at a place indicated by the dog, they find many gold coins. A greedy man who lives next door is envious and demands to borrow the dog. He forces the dog to search for another such a place, but when he digs where the dog leads him there he only finds dirt. Angered, the greedy old man kills the dog and buries it under a pine tree. The tree grows vigorously and the nice old man uses the wood to make a mortar. When he pounds barley in his new mortar, it fills with so many barley grains that they spill over. When the greedy old man sees this, he borrows the mortar. However, when he pounds barley, he only produces cracked and insect-ridden grain. Furious, he burns the mortar. When the nice old man scatters the ashes from the burnt mortar over a dead tree, the tree blossoms and the old man is richly rewarded by the local lord. However, when the greedy old man scatters the ashes over a dead tree, they are blown into the lord's eyes by the wind. The greedy old man is seized by the lord's men and meets a terrible fate." SOURCE: Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666955/ CONDITION: In very good condition. Original bindings perfectly intact. Minor creasing. All pages recorded in pictures for inspection. YOUR SHIPMENT: Between sturdy cardboard. Track and Trace and additional coverage.