After The Banquet.

MISHIMA, Yukio.

$3,500.00

Item Number: 148136

London: Secker & Warburg, 1963.

First British edition of “the biggest and most profound thing Mishima has done so far in an already distinguished career” (The New Yorker). Octavo, original cloth. Translated from the Japanese by Donald Keene. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To John Harder for the memory of an unforgettable interview in midnight 1965 March 22 Yukio Mishima.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Margaret Eastoe. Rare signed.

Kazu, one of the leading figures of the entertainment world, is a woman blazing with vitality. She is the mistress of the Setsugoan Restaurant, a luxurious refuge for leading financiers, politicians, and diplomats. If she is sure of anything as she takes her morning walks in her cherished garden, it is that she will never becloud her life and mind again by falling in love. But she is captivated by the distinction and authority of a guest, Noguchi, aristocrat and intellectual, once a cabinet minister. Kazu and Noguchi are profoundly drawn to each other at first, and only time and spiritual agony teach them how mismatched they are. "The biggest and most profound thing Mishima has done so far in an already distinguished career" (The New Yorker).