Five Modern No Plays.: Translated from the Japanese by Donald Keene.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf,, 1957. Inscribed in the midst of the author's political awakening First English-language edition, first printing, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Stephen Andrews with the author's best wishes, Yukio Mishima 25 June '60", with the recipient's ownership inkstamp and Cape Town address on the following page. Books signed by Mishima, one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century, are scarce, especially English language editions. Keene's translation constitutes one of the author's earliest appearances in English, presenting Mishima's modern interpretations for traditional Japanese theatre. The author was considered for the Nobel Prize for literature in 1968, but in 1970 Mishima famously died by suicide by seppuku after leading a failed coup d'etat to return the Japanese state to the Emperor, known as the "Mishima Incident". Prior to the summer of 1960, Mishima had been fairly apolitical. He became quickly and reverently politically engaged after witnessing the huge anti-government demonstrations in May and June of that year - "the most spectacular political demonstrations in post-war Japanese history" (Scott-Stokes, p. 161), after which he wrote his first overtly political piece, for the Mainichi Shinbun newspaper, entitled "A Political Opinion". Octavo. Original black cloth-backed red boards, spine lettered in metallic purple, title, floral decoration, and double rule panel in blind on front board, top edge yellow, fore edge untrimmed. With dust jacket. With 8 black and white photographic plates. A little wear to edges, head of rear cover rubbed, slight browning to endpapers and a few marks to contents; a very good copy indeed in near-fine jacket, spine slightly sunned, a few marks to rear panel, two short closed tears to top edge, a hint of rubbing, sharp and attractive. Henry Scott-Stokes, The Life and Death of Yukio Mishima, 1974.