BL. W. B. Yeats

228. O’Shea, Edward. A Descriptive Catalogue of W. B. Yeats’s Library. New York: Garland, 1985.

A bibliography of works that were in Yeats’s private library. Those related to Japanese subjects demonstrate a lively if not voracious interest. They include a 1908 edition of Mitford’s Tales of Old Japan (see D4); Porter’s 1912 and 1914 translations of Ki no Tsurayuki’s (Ap) Tosa nikki and Kenkô’s (Ap) Tsurezuregusa (see D20); the 1913 edition of Binyon’s Painting in the Far East (BC2); seven works by Noguchi, six of them inscribed to Yeats from Noguchi, including the 1914 Through the Torii, 1915 Spirit of Japanese Art, and 1920 Japanese Hokkus (see D15e and e7); Masefield’s 1915 The Faithful (CA5); Pound’s 1916 ‘Noh’ or Accomplishment (BK24); 1919 and 1920 editions of ‘Asiatic’ poems translated by Mathers (see D25); Waley’s 1921 Nô Plays of Japan, 1928 Pillow Book of Sei Shônagon, and the four 1925-28 volumes of Tale of Genji (see D26 and D26b-c); and Suzuki’s 1927 Essays in Zen Buddhism and 1938 Zen Buddhism and its Influence on Japanese Culture (see D28). Interestingly, O’Shea notes that twelve of the thirteen 1921-27 numbers of The Eastern Buddhist (see D28) are ‘almost wholly uncut’. See also O’Shea’s entries 465, 719, 900, 1015, 1071, 1076, 1326, 1447, 1449, 1515-18, 2101, 2143-44, 2180-81, and the terminal note for 446. A related publication, O’Shea’s ‘The 1920’s Catalogue of W. B. Yeats’s Library’ (Yeats Annual 4 [1986]: 279-90) includes citation of Aston’s study of Shintô (see D13).