The Transmigrations of the Mandarin Fum-Hoam (Chinese Tales). London: H.S. Nichols, 1894. Pp vii, 252, with publisher’s catalogue to rear. Plain card wrappers in publishers glassine dust jacket with Illustration in gilt to upper cover, Moon & Star symbol to lower cover, title in gilt to spine. Jacket with with tears & a little loss, book in fine bright condition. Housed in cloth solander box.

One of Five Copies Printed on Japanese Vellum.

English translation of “Chinese Tales” originally published in French by Thomas Guellette [1683-1766]

London publisher associated with the Decadent movement, Leonard Smithers published works by Aubrey Beardsley, Max Beerbohm, Aleister Crowley, Arthur Symons and Oscar Wilde. After the trials of Oscar Wilde in 1895, Smithers was one of the few publishers prepared to handle “decadent” literature, such as Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol, which he published in 1898