THE VILLAGE TREE

New York: The Viking Press, 1953. First edition. Near fine in like jacket.. First edition of Taro Yashima's first children's book, about long summer days spent playing in and around a large tree, inscribed by the author/artist to radio personality Lowell Blanchard. Taro Yashima, real name Jun Iwamatsu, was an antifascist activist in addition to an artist; he met his wife Mitsu in the Japanese Proletarian Artists' League. After being arrested and tortured by the Japanese government for their activism, they fled to America; they took on their pseudonyms when they were hired by the Office of War Information, and later the Office of Strategic Services, to protect their family still living in Japan. They produced anti-military propaganda for Japanese consumption in various forms throughout World War II, including illustrating handbills for dropping over battlefields.
THE VILLAGE TREE was Yashima's first children's book. After the war, he developed a stomach ulcer which kept him home for long periods; he began to tell his American-born daughter, Momo, about life when he was a child in a rural village in Japan, and these stories grew into several publications. THE VILLAGE TREE presents a hazy and nostalgic snapshot of the simplicity of childhood, when the priorities of the day included catching bugs and swimming. 10'' x 7.75''. Original brown publisher's cloth binding with orange stamped titles and design. Original color pictorial dust jacket, unclipped ($2.50). Color pictorial endpapers of a bird in flight. Illustrated in color throughout. 34 pages. Inscribed and stamped on half-title page by Taro Yashima to Lowell Blanchard, dated "Nov. 25, 1956." Mild edgewear to dust jacket, with two tiny closed tears to rear; shallow creases to joints. Mild sunning to edges of binding. A sharp, vibrant copy.