Grosz, George (artist), Hermynia zur Mühlen (author), and Tomoyoshi Murayama (cover design).

[MAVO: DADA IN JAPAN – NO COPY TRACED WORLDWIDE] Chīsai Pētā [Little Peter]. Translated by Hayashi Fusao.

Tokyo: Gyoseikaku, 1927. Small octavo (16.5 × 12.5 cm). Original pictorial wrappers illustrated by Tomoyoshi Murayama; [4]; 89, [5] pp. with 6 plates of illustrations by George Grosz. An uncut copy with wide margins; wrappers and margins somewhat dust-stained and toned; good or better. Item #55248

Rare first Japanese edition of the children’s book with illustrations by George Grosz and cover design by Mavo founder Tomoyoshi Murayama. It was first published in 1921 under the title "Was Peterchens Freunde erzählen" (What Little Peter's Friends Talk About) in 1921 as the first volume in the book series "Märchen der Armen" (Fairy Tales of the Poor), published by Malik-Verlag, which had been founded by John Heartfield and Wieland Herzfelde for the Berlin Dada movement. The little volume was to become one of the most successful proletarian children’s books worldwide. In it, the “Red Countess,” as the communist noblewoman was also known, describes how the objects in Peter’s room begin to speak while he lies sick and bored in bed. The coals in the stove tell of the miners’ hard work, the water bottle of the glassblowers, and the matchbox of the trees and forest workers.

The Japanese translation by Hayashi Fusao, featuring illustrations by Grosz, played a key role in making Grosz known in China. Surprisingly, it was the Japanese edition (published between the two wars with Japan and approximately two years after the suspension of the Chinese Civil War between Nationalists and Communists in favor of a united front against Japan) that served as the basis for Lu Xun’s first Chinese translation in 1929, titled “Xiao Bide.” Remarkably, Grosz had been known in the Japanese Empire for many years before his illustrations in this book also gained circulation in China, which, unlike Japan, had extensive Communist Party structures. (Cf. Paul Bevan. A Modern Miscellany: Shanghai Cartoon Artists, Shao Xunmei’s Circle and the Travels of Jack Chen, 1926–1938, Berlin 2018, pp. 135ff.)

It was mainly thanks to Tomoyoshi Murayama that the Berlin Dadaist Grosz became known in Japan; Murayama studied in Berlin from 1921 to 1923 and joined the circle associated with the “Der Sturm” gallery run by the communist Herwarth Walden. There he met, among others, Grosz and Schwitters. He also took part in the Düsseldorf Congress of “Progressive Artists,” where Dadaists and Constructivists joined forces. Upon returning to Tokyo, he founded “Mavo” as, so to speak, the Japanese branch of Dada. Like the Berlin group, “Mavo’s” art actions were not least political protests directed against the military government in Tokyo. (Cf. Hanne Bergius, Das Lachen Dadas: Die Berliner Dadaisten und ihre Aktionen, Berlin 1989, p. 300.) It was also Murayama who introduced Mavo member Yanase Masamu to the work of Grosz. The illustrator and cartoonist was also a member of the “Japanese Proletarian Artists’ Association,” for which he designed several journals, posters, and books. Furthermore, he had been employed as a cartoonist and comic artist at the daily newspaper “Yomiuri Shimbun” since 1920. In 1929, Yanase published a comprehensive monograph on Grosz’s work titled "Musan kaikyu no gaka Georuge Gurossu" [George Grosz: Painter of the Proletariat]. (See Bevan, ibid.)

As of March 2026, KVK, OCLC lists no copy worldwide.

Price: €3,000.00

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