The Vermillion Pencil.

New York, NY McClure Company, 1908. Hardcover First Edition (1908); not directly stated, but with same date at the title and copyright pages and "Published March, 1908" stated at the copyright page, in accordance with McClure's customary practice at the time of publication. First Edition (1908); not directly stated, but with same date at the title and copyright pages and "Published March, 1908" stated at the copyright page, in accordance with McClure's customary practice at the time of publication. Very Good: shows just a touch of wear to the extremities; some mottling at the outside edge of the front panel and a bit more along the rear hinge; the expected tanning to the text pages due to aging; sparse foxing to the top edge of the text block; slight spine lean; former owners' names and addresses at front endpapers; the binding is secure; the text is clean. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of underlining, hi-lighting, notations, or marginalia. A handsome copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing moderate wear and several cosmetic imperfections. Bright and clean for its age. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. (7.75 x 5.35 x 1.3 inches). vi, 331 pages. Full-color frontispiece portrait of a young chinese maiden with tissue guard. Language: English. Weight: 20 ounces. Attractive grey-green cloth over boards with gilt and vermilion dragon designs and gilt titles and vermilion medallions at the front panel and backstrip. Hardcover: Green Linen over boards. Hardcover: Linen over heavy flexible card. No DJ, as issued. Homer Lea (1876 – 1912) was an American adventurer, author and geopolitical strategist. He is today best known for his involvement with Chinese reform and revolutionary movements in the early twentieth century and as a close advisor to Dr. Sun Yat-sen during the 1911 Chinese Republican revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty, and for his writings about China. Homer Lea's first book was The Vermilion Pencil, a romance novel, which received critical acclaim. The novel painted a colorful picture of Chinese rural life with a fast moving plot that centered on the relationship and romance of a French missionary and the young wife of a Chinese Viceroy. Lea originally entitled it, The Ling Chee, (or lingchi in the present romanization) in reference to a type of Chinese execution by dismemberment. His publisher, McClure's, insisted on the change. Lea subsequently wrote a dramatized version of his novel that he renamed The Crimson Spider. In 1922, Japanese-born Sessue Hayakawa, a leading Hollywood film star and movie producer, adapted The Vermilion Pencil to the screen