This book consists of 5 pieces of light printed cardboard sewn together to make a book with 16 unnumbered pages (including title page and a back page with a decoration, not shown here) and a cover. It probably dates to around 1900. No author or illustrator is given, only the publisher, on the title page above. Obpacher printed many valentines and other greeting cards, so this might have been thought of as a Christmas card/gift book for a child. The last color image was also published as a Christmas card (and perhaps the others too).

There are four full-page color images, besides the cover, though the color pages do not face the text that relates to them.

The story begins so specifically that it would seem to evoke a real event--two brothers (apparently twins since they are the same size) move to Canada from Japan, apparently to escape political persecution. They have a nanny and get Christmas presents, so they are well taken care of. On the other hand, their parents are not in evidence and the recurring image of a woman's portrait in the decorations suggests a missing mother.

However, the two little boys look like dolls, especially the one with the "shaven patch" on top; as on many cheap dolls which had a green or blue felt or compo "bald spot" glued onto the hair, looking more like a hat than like skin. It is hard to tell whether this is due to bad drawing, but it may be that the artist was using dolls as models. Compare the image below with a doll of mine similarly posed:

 
The pages below are slightly reduced in size from the original book. The title page above is full size.