Buck, Pearl. Buck Autograph Manuscript Signed, "Asia Column" NP 1940
Five pages on 8-1/2 x 11" three ring paper with heading in Buck's hand, "Asia Column" and a penciled note in another hand, "Jan. '40 issue". Signed by Pearl Buck on the last page, with cross-outs and rewrites by the author and copy editor's marks in red pencil. A bit of yellowing to paper at edges, traces of imprint of paper clip, else fine. In April of 1935, Buck took charge of the "Asia Book-Shelf" column for Asia Magazine, assigning books for review and writing many of the notices herself. In this five-page manuscript she proves herself prescient indeed, choosing four books for review that were incredibly significant. All have been reprinted and are still available. They are: Krivitsky, Walter G., IN STALIN'S SECRET SERVICE. An expose of Russia's secret policies by the former chief of the Soviet intelligence in Western Europe. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1939. Kiernan, E. V. G. BRITISH DIPLOMACY IN CHINA 1880-1885. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1939. Embree, John. Suye Mura: A JAPANESE VILLAGE. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1939. Bates, Robert H. Editor, FIVE MILES HIGH. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1939. The first book she chose to review was written by the first Soviet master spy to defect to the west. He was killed in Washington, DC by members of Stalin's secret police. The author's revelations of 1939 were confirmed later in the century when Soviet archives were opened. Buck points out, more in the way of a warning that proved to be accurate, "...Stalin has for a long time admired and sought for a union with Hitler...". A brave review on an important and timely book. The second book she chose to review is now considered a key historical resource for the period it covers. Buck notes, "Those foundations unfortunately, were laid with about every possible mistake to diplomats in general and British diplomats in particular...". She concludes, "This book is an important source book...", but notes it is not for the general reader. The third book she chose to review is now considered a classic in cultural anthropology. Buck notes that this study of a little village on the island of Kyushu, "is so valuable a picture to present at this moment when Japan herself is presenting to the world quite another sort of picture that the work can scarcely be too highly recommend." Again, a brave choice and a brave review considering the world circumstances in 1939. Embree, it should be noted, served in the Office of Strategic Services in 1940 and by 1943 was at the War Departments Civic Affairs Training School at the University of Chicago in 1943. The fourth book Pearl Buck chose to review is the account of that mountaineering expedition - the Karakoram Expedition - that set the standard for American Himalayan Mountaineering. It is now a classic of American climbing accounts. It is the story of the attack on the second highest mountain in the world by various members of the expedition with their own photographs. Buck notes, "... best of all, it is one adventure, vividly told by different men, and full of details of how to get ready for adventure on a mountain...". Pearl Buck (1892-1973), author and activist, was an ardent feminist and multi-culturalist. The first American woman to win a Nobel Prize for literature, she was acknowledged by most of her peers as one of the leading authorities on China and Asia. She had gone to China with her missionary parents at age three months in 1892. She was educated in the United States but returned to China thereafter. Upon her return to the United States in the 1930's, Pearl Buck found a country isolationist in thinking and parochial in world-view. With a characteristic energy, Buck and her second husband Richard set about making east and west better known to each other. Her work at Asia Magazine went a long way to assist in that task. Conn, Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography, pp. 181.
$US1200
This item is listed on Bibliopoly by Priscilla Juvelis, Inc; click here for further details.