Chloe Preston was born in 1887 to a landed British family, and her first book, The Peek-a-Boos, was published in 1910. She was one of the most admired artists of books and postcards showing children, combining a vivid sense of humor with a fiercely bright decorative sense. Her use of simple geometrical shapes filled with luscious patterns anticipated Art Deco. Her subject, even in books about war or outright fantasy adventures, was prosperous, secure British children, with plenty of toys, puppies, and ponies. Evidently, however, she was  interested in Japan (as were so many British and Americans at the time), and her fourth book in the series was The Peek-a-Boo Japs. The early books were written by her brother Tom, and Chloe and Tom seem to have "lived" the original Peek-a-Boo life. By 1922, there were 23 Peek-a-Boo books, along with shaped booklets, and eventually postcards, play books, and special books devoted to puppies and military men; there was also another series of books, The Chunkies. Except for the Japanese pictures, she seems to have portrayed exclusively English children. She included a Japanese girl with dolls in her 1926 postcard series for Raphael Tuck, "Quaint Little Folk".

     Peek-a-Boo Japs is a very rare book. It is not discussed  in Mary Hillier's Chloe Preston and the Peek--A-Boos (1998, Richard Dennis), from which most of the above information is drawn (and which is a delightful, copiously illustrated book).
     Tom Preston's verses show very little interest in Japan. The verses include "Sweetbriar San," "The Little Lamp Boy," "Butterflies," "The Fearless Fisherman," "Peachblossom," "Pretty Polly," "Windy Weather," "The Kitten," "The Pedigree Pup," "The Young Nut," "The Perverse Parrot," and "The Destructive Dog." Most of these tales of childhood woe have no Japanese content except for the children's names or the comment that they live "in far Japan." Some don't even have that and could just as well be illustrated with Western children. For example, the "Fearless Fisherman" falls in the creek and emerges with a wet "suit" and squelching boots, and the "Young Nut" (dandy) also wears boots; on the other hand, the "Lamp Boy" is said to have a pigtail, which is properly a Chinese male hairstyle. In "Sweetbriar San," below, the picture of a little girl with her doll "sitting down" for a cup of tea with sugar and milk is easier to imagine with a little English girl at a table in party dress than with a Japanese child (e.g. the Japanese drink their tea without sugar and milk, do not spank their children, etc.)
     On the other hand, Chloe Preston, illustrating the verses, was evidently interested in Japanese fabrics, clothing, and styles. She plays around quite a bit with color schemes, patterns, and shapes, but one can often see an authentic observation under the decorative stylization.  Her little boys do not wear pigtails but have their heads shaved in appropriate Japanese patterns, and she invented a strange kind of sandal for her children to wear, with thick patterened soles and one cross-strap. Both boys and girls usually have elaborately tied obis, though males do not wear these in Japan. However, the little "Lamp Boy" who works for a living wears a blue-and-black striped costume appropriate to his class.

Sweetbriar San gave a party for tea,
Her dog and her dolly were there,
They sat side by side as sedate as could be,
A very respectable pair:
The dog it sat up, and the doll it sat down,
While their hostess made tea so refreshing and brown.

Sweetbriar San was resplendent in silk,
With a beautiful sash round her waist;
She put in the sugar, she put in the milk,
To make the tea sweet to the taste:
The doll it sat down, and the dog it sat up,
While their hostess was busy preparing each cup.

Sweetbriar San to the dog gave a cup,
And a cup to the dolly gave she;
The dog put its nose in and drank the tea up,
But the doll was as still as could be;
The dog it sat up, and the doll it sat down,
While their hostess's forehead was framed in a frown.

Sweetbriar Sam took the doll by the hair,
She laid him face down on her knee,
And after she'd smacked him, made haste to declare
That she'd never more ask him to teac;
Then the doll was thrown down, but the dog it sat up
And drank all the tea that was in the doll's cup.