The grass roof by Kang, Younghill - 1934

Chicago: Follett, 1966. 377pp. Pale green cloth boards, dark green titles on spine. Crisp copy that appears virtually unread. The number 1 and a dash after it appear in pencil on FFEP, but book is otherwise clean and unmarked. Slight edgewear to dust jacket, but it shows original $4.95 price on front flap. Kang's debut novel, "captures the twilight of the Korean kingdom in the first two decades of the twentieth century, as Japan colonizes the peninsula. Its narrator, Chungpa Han, is a precocious child whose thirst for education takes him from his secluded home village to Seoul, three hundred miles away; into the heart of Japan; and finally to America, where East Goes West picks up on the pilgrim’s progress," Ed Park writes in the New York Review of Books. Esther Kim notes that, "believed only literature told the whole truth, and that it was the most permanent of the arts," and that it brought him, "dizzying international success." Kang became great friends with… Read More

Charles Scribner's Sons, 1948. Book. Good. Hardcover. Ex-library with typical library markings, stickers and tape.

New York 1948, Scribner. Green cloth, very clean,367p.,tran- slations done for the first time into English by a Korean- -American, clean and solid copy, the First Korean-American novel. * * SECOND EDITION * * . *** **** *** . . THE FIRST KOREAN-AMERICAN NOVEL . . . NOTICED & PRAISED BY AUTHORS REBECCA WEST & H.G. WELLS, . * This is the Korean "Huckleberry Finn" and covers his story as a youth, the seizure of his family's land by the Japanese and how he ran away to Seoul, a journey on foot. An autobiography. . How he went to 'hated Japan,' and how he finally made his way to America. . It is also highly critical of Japan's takeover of Korea, Manchuria and East Asia in the 1930's. . *** WHO WAS YOUNGHILL KANG [1898-1972]: . He was born in Korea in 1903, "in an isolated grass-roofed village," Kang was educated in Japan, returned to Korea to teach in a missionary school, and was jailed for a year for joining a revolt against Japanese domination. then he came… Read More

Slight toning, else content appears as unread and unblemished with near fine orange decorated, cloth covered boards displaying minimal surface/edge wear. Actual Pic Not Available. Many of my books are from the 19th Century. Books were not written in at that time, instead an index card with info. Am enclosing the one found in this book for you. Enjoy. Kang at first wrote in Korean and Japanese, switching to English only in 1928 and under the tutelage of his American wife, Frances Keeley.[5] He worked as an editor for the Encyclopedia Britannica and taught at New York University, where his colleague Thomas Wolfe read the opening chapters of his novel The Grass Roof and recommended it to Scribner's publishing house.[5] The book was admired by such other authors as Rebecca West and H. G. Wells, and was considered for a movie adaptation by Hollywood.[6] The Grass Roof was well received in its time, since it seemed to confirm American disdain for Korea. East Goes West,… Read More

New York / London: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1931. First Edition. Hardcover. Good/Missing. Signed by Author. Signed First Edition. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1931; same date on title and copyright pages, no later printings indicated (lacks an 'A' on copyright page, so may be a second printing); viii, 367pp. Signed and inscribed by Younghill Kang on front end page ('Sincerely yours, [signature]'). Hardcover in G/G- condition, missing the dust jacket. Binding is tight, sturdy, and square; orange cloth boards worn at corners, lightly frayed at spine ends; light dust smudging to boards, faint damp-stain on rear board; title plate on spine toned and rubbed, text remains legible; interior text very good throughout; moderate amount of foxing to edges of page block. No dust jacket. Kang's first novel, based on the author's own life in Japanese-occupied Korea and his decision to flee to the West. Ships from Dinkytown in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1948. Signed by Younghill Kang on the front free endpaper in black ink. viii, 367 pp. Bound in publisher's green cloth, stamped in dark green. Later printing of the first edition. Near Fine with a little foxing to fore edge, in a Good+ dust jacket , chipped at extremities (the largest chip being at the foot), small chip in spine interior, worn along edges, price-clipped with new price ($3.50) stamped on front flap. Rare signed. The first Korean American novel, a commercial and literary success praised by such authors as H.G. Wells and Rebecca West.

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1948. Signed by Younghill Kang on the front free endpaper in black ink, inscribed to poet Jean Starr Untermeyer, dated November 29, 1950. Both were residents at Yaddo artist's colony; perhaps that's where they met. viii, 367 pp. Bound in publisher's green cloth, stamped in dark green. Later printing of the first edition. Near Fine in Very Good dust jacket, spine worn at ends and a little darkened, front flap clipped with new price stamped ($3.50). Rare signed. The first Korean American novel, a commercial and literary success praised by such authors as H.G. Wells and Rebecca West.