This set provides the first facsimile collection of Judith Gautier’s Japonism or Orientalism writings (all in French), which have long been out of print since her death in 1917. Judith Gautier was the daughter of the famous French author, Theophile Gautier. She started studying Chinese after her visit to the Great Exposition in London in 1862 and published her first novel, Le dragon imperial, in 1869, which featured China as the main subject. Later, she transferred her interest to Japan and together with Pierre Loti she became a central figure in the boom of Japonism in Paris.

Selected here are her important novels and plays as well as a translation of a Japanese children’s book, a musical piece she wrote for the performance of Sada Yacco on the occasion of the Paris Exposition in 1900, and histories of Japan and China. Full colour illustrations are also included within the volumes. Finally, the extremely rare and valuable Poeme de la libellule, which includes her translation of Kokin Waka Shu (a medieval Japanese poetry book), is reproduced in full colour together with illustrations by Hosui Yamamoto.