100 Numbered/signed copies

£45 plus shipping

88 pages. Pinched Crown format, approx. 7”/175mm wide, 10”/250mm tall. Handbound at the Tangerine workshop with cloth-covered acid-free boards, conservation glue and hemp cord; foil embossed front cover artwork. ISBN: 978-1-917085-17-5

Quarterbound with Fabriano Tiziano 'oatmeal' paper covered boards and cloth spine; spine label paste down; acid-free text papers; Hahnemuhle Bugra Butten endpapers; front cover artwork embossed in black.

Includes bound in print of an illustration by Kitaro Chiba.

Signed by Adelle Stripe

26 Lettered/signed copies

£150 plus shipping

88 pages. Pinched Crown format, approx. 7”/175mm wide, 10”/250mm tall. Handbound at the Tangerine workshop with cloth-covered acid-free boards, conservation glue and hemp cord; foil embossed front cover artwork.

Quarter bound with Canson Mi-Tientes 'orchid' paper covered boards and textured cloth spine; spine label paste down; front cover artwork embossed in black; acid-free text papers; artwork by Harry Adams printed on Mohawk Superfine paper and forms part of the 3-page ‘stepped’ Canson Mi-tientes front endpapers — the other page colours being 'buff' and 'light green'; Canson Mi-tientes 'buff' back endpapers

SIGNED ARTWORK BY KOTARO CHIBA
Indigo printed onto acid-free Mohawk Superfine paper.

Signed by Adelle Stripe & Kotaro Chiba

LAST COPIES

Forthcoming…

Akiko Yosano (1878-1942) is one of the most famous, and most controversial, post-classical woman poets of Japan and is best remembered for her innovative and controversial use of the tanka verse form. From an early age she demonstrated an avid interest in literature, which she pursued after her formal schooling ended. As a young woman Akiko attended meetings of the literary societies in Sakai. Her first published works were traditional poems that imitated classic Japanese literature. The growing influence in Japan of European Romanticism led to the development of "new poetry," which condoned the expression of personal feelings and expanded the vocabulary of poetic diction. It was in this literary milieu that Akiko wrote the passionate poetry for which she became best known. Her poetry openly expresses personal experience, especially romantic love, in language that was perceived as highly emotional and sexually explicit to readers in early twentieth-century Japan. In 1901 Akiko moved to Tokyo to be with Yosano Hiroshi, a writer and editor whom she married later that year, shortly after the publication of her first book of poems Midaregami (Tangled Hair). Hiroshi was a central figure in the Japanese Romantic movement and founder of the Shinshi Sha, ("New Poetry Society") which published the "new poetry" journal Myōjō ("Bright Star"). After Myōjō ceased publication in 1908, Akiko wrote prolifically to help support her family. She gave birth to 13 children, 11 of whom survived to adulthood. She wrote over 20 volumes of poetry and social commentary; essays ranged from feminist tracts to criticism of Japan's foreign aggression, and her poetry reflects some of these concerns as well; also broke social taboos with poems about experiencing labour pains and the birth of her stillborn baby. A prominent pacifist and feminist, Yosano Akiko spoke out against the Sino-Japanese war and the growing nationalistic fervour of the times. She later founded a woman's college, the Bunka Gakuin, in 1921 and made constructive statements on problems of women and education. Akiko died on 29 May 1942.

Shio Sakanishi (1896–1976) was a critic, essayist, academic, translator, author, and librarian. She first achieved distinction in her early twenties when she became the first Japanese woman to teach at a boys’ preparatory school. She came to the United States in 1922, and enrolled at Wheaton College, where she graduated three years later with a degree in aesthetics and literature. After receiving her doctorate from University of Michigan in 1929, Sakanishi was hired by the Library of Congress as a librarian in its Asian reading room, requiring a special act of Congress. Her contributions included cataloguing and acquiring Japanese literature. During her tenure the collection grew from 12,000 to 34,000 works. In this job, she mixed and grew friendly with government officials as well as intellectuals and writers such as Archibald MacLeish and Ezra Pound. Meanwhile, Sakanishi received a contract for a set of translations of modern Japanese poets, one of which was Akiko Yosano’s Tangled Hair. In December 1941, due to the developments of World War II, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, she was suspended from her position until June 1942. During this time, she was interned and, in August 1942, managed to secure repatriation to Japan. In the years that followed, Sakanishi produced some two dozen books on social reform issues such as child rearing, young people and women’s rights, plus translations of numerous American books. Sakanishi became best known as a broadcaster and television interviewer. She died in Japan in 1976.

Adelle Stripe was born in York in 1976 and lives in Calderdale, UK. ​Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile, her debut novel, was a fictionalised biography based on the life and work of playwright Andrea Dunbar. It was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and Portico Prize for Literature. Her biography of the cult band Fat White Family, Ten Thousand Apologies, was a Sunday Times bestseller and a Rough Trade book of the year. It was shortlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize. Ms Stripe's forthcoming book, Base Notes: The Scents of a Life, will be published by White Rabbit in 2025.

Kotaro Chiba is a freelance illustrator born in Japan and based in Niigata, Japan. He started printing his illustrations on T-shirts in around 2007 and later illustrations for books, magazines, vinyls and creates portraits commissioned from around the world. He is also a graphic designer creating logos, branding, posters and flyers. Clients include Chronicle Books, PRH, Dentsu Inc, Spectrum Films, etc.