Pearl S. Buck - Imperial Woman, 1956 FIRST EDITION/Second Impression

Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize winner, Pearl S. Buck, was one of the most popular and prolific writers of the 20th century. This is a FIRST EDITION of Come My Beloved, published in 1953 by John Day Publishing.

ABOUT THE STORY 

Imperial Woman is the fictionalized biography of the last Empress in China, Ci-xi, who began as a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor and on his death became the de facto head of the Qing Dynasty until her death in 1908.Buck recreates the life of one of the most intriguing rulers during a time of intense turbulence. Tzu Hsi was born into one of the lowly ranks of the Imperial dynasty. According to custom, she moved to the Forbidden City at the age of seventeen to become one of hundreds of concubines. But her singular beauty and powers of manipulation quickly moved her into the position of Second Consort. Tzu Hsi was feared and hated by many in the court, but adored by the people. The Empress's rise to power (even during her husband's life) parallels the story of China's transition from the ancient to the modern way. 

BIXLEY NOTES
• Imperial Woman
• Written by Pearl S. Buck
• Published by John Day in association with Reynal & Hitchcock, 1956
• FIRST EDITION/Second Impression
• 376 pages
• Linen hardcover with dust jacket

VINTAGE NOTES
• In very good condition
• Binding is nice and tight
• No apparent shelf wear on the hardcover 
• Dust jacket is torn. End flaps have detached from the cover (but are still with the book). Lots of tears and creases along the edges. See our photographs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892-1973), also known by her Chinese name Sai Zhenzhu (Chinese: 赛珍珠), was an American writer and novelist. In October 1892, her family took the 4-month-old baby girl to China. As the daughter of missionaries to China, and later as a missionary herself, Buck spent most of her life before 1934 in Zhenjiang. The family spent their summers in a villa in Kuling town, Mountain Lu, Jiujiang, and it was during this annual pilgrimage that the young girl decided to become a writer. The Good Earth was the best-selling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932. In 1938, Buck won the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces." She was the first American woman to win the prize.

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