From the Land of SunshineFather Tuck's Nursery Series (pub. Raphael Tuck & Sons); an inscription inside is dated 1898. No illustrator listed; verses by Clifton Bingham (author of the poem "Kissy Kissy Little Jappy").
12 pages, plus front cover and inside covers front and back for a total of 15 illustrated pages; unsusual size, about 15.5x7". 4 color pages plus the front cover, all with some Japanese theme; othe rinside pages have line drawings.
This book, like Only a Jap Dollee, is a collection of short illustrated verses which do not tell a story, but of which more than half evoke a Japanese theme. In this case, the point of view is often that of a lblonde little girl "Little Curlylocks," and the dolls appear sometimes as actual dolls, sometimes as very large "live dolls" interacting with her; in addition, in the last color picture, Curly-Locks appears with a real little Japanese boy, presented as "a little Jap man": is he the doll transmuted to a boy, or is she imagining herself in Japan meeting a real boy?I have not included the pages and poems which have no reference to Japan.
Front cover (color) A little Japanese boy helps a much taller girl (his mother? a Japanese version of Curly Locks?) hang Japanese lanterns. The boy is seen in profile and his doll-like "shave" hairstyle is evident.
Inside Front cover: Illustrations of two Japanese dolls wrestling; one wears a Chinese pigtail attached to the back of his head, in addition to the conventional Japanese boy-doll tonsure hairdo. Presumably these are the Japanese "little maiden and little man." There is also a vignette of schoolbooks held together with a belt, presumably indicating the alternative books discarded to look at this one.From the Land of Sunshine
From the Land of Sunshine, Far away Japan,
Came a little maiden And a little man.
" See," cried they, " we've brought you, Such a pretty book;
Read the merry verses, At the pictures look!
Come with smiling faces, Quickly as you can;"
Said the little maiden And the little man.
" 'Tis the little people With their merry mirth,
Fill with love and sunshine Every place on earth!"
Page 1 (line): animal verses: a cat barber, Doctor StorkPage 2 (color): The Japanese doll, quite large, stands by Curlylocks' bed, with the cat in evidence. Presumably the doll is speaking the verse.
Get up Curlylocks, and look at your toys.
They're all awake and making a noise,
The Noah's Ark Animals have gone for a walk
And the Dollies do nothing but laugh and talk.
Page 3 (line): A Trip to the Moon. Curlylocks rides a broomstick to the moon with her Dutch Doll. The cat and a Jack Tar doll also feature.Page 4 (line): The New Doll. Includes a chaming picture of a "little mother" with four dolls, including a black one and a Japanese.
The New DollA black doll, a white doll, a doll with golden hair;
Sunday doll, Monday doll, A doll tht's dressed with care!
I daresay now you wonder how, A little maid like me
Can wash and dress and play Mamma To such a family!I love them all, both great and small, But it must be confessed,
Of all the dolls I ever knew, I love my new doll best!
But though my new doll is my pet,
My other dolls I don't forget,
I dress them all with gretest care
And take them with me everywhere.
Page 5 (color): two poems, both illustrated with a Japanese doll. The first one shows a real doll; in the second, the doll is almost as tall as Curlylocks and is holding a skipping-rope. The verse "My Jap Dolly" appears in another Tuck book of similar format, Only a Jap Dollee, whose verses are signed "Helen Burnside." Since the spelling "dollee" belongs to the other book, presumably it appears here as a "reprint." The image in this book is however much more appropriate to the verse.
My Jap DollyI once had a seet little toy, dears,
And I love every Jap I see,
Whether a girl or a boy, dears,
For the sake of my Jap dollee.Oh, there isn't a Japanese Jappy
Who's half so merrry and happy
As a little firl With her hair in curl
Learning to skipperty wip!
Skipperty, wipperty, wip, this is the way to skip.
Page 6 (line): Time to get up. Same theme as page 2, but this time it is a maid in a cap coming to awaken the little girl. This might imply that the " live doll" visions preceding were dreams, as is the next poem.Page 7 (line): Her Little Dream. No doll shown; below the section shown in the image here, are the two birds from a willow-pattern plate. Since this is in fact a Chinese pattern, not Japanese, it extends into the text the confusion of the illustration to the first poem, which shows a Japanese doll with a Chinese pigtail.
Her Little DreamShe dreamt about a little bridge, That stood in quaint Japan,
A temple and a willow tree, A river and a fan!
And when she woke at morning light She asked her little cat
What could have made her dream a dream So comical as that?
"Perhaps," said Pussy, looking wise, "You went to bed too late--
Perhaps you had your supper on A willow pattern plate!"
Page 8: (color): Another page with two separate poems, one about A Happy Family of mice, the other a two-line caption to an illusration of three Japanese dolls of a much cheaper, smaller model than the one shown in the other picture. Of the three dolls, the one in the middle is a boy, the others probably girls. The verse obviously evokes the song from Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado, "Three little maids from school are we" though the picture evokes a particular type of real doll.
Oh, three Jap dolls from school are we,
We've done with sums and the A, B, C.
Page 9 (line): Bow-wow and Tweet-tweet. A conversation between a Dicky the bird and Jip the pug dog, realistically illustrated.Page 10 (line): Cat and Dog Life. A conversation between Pussy and Toby, a puppy.
Page 11 (color): Here Curlylocks, in her nightgown with a red jacket as on p. 2, holds her cat and walks along a path bordered by flowers and grass, with a Japanese child holding a parasol. The child is about the same size with respect to her as the "live" Japanese doll on pages 2 and 5, but has a face as sentimentally beautiful as her own. Both are barefoot.
Curlylocks and kitty Fan
Went for walk in bright Japan,
Went for a walk with a little Jap man.Page 12 (line): Dolly's Lullaby
"Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye, Dolly, Go to sleep like a good girl;
Mother will love you and nurse you, Mother will call you her pearl!
"Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye, Dolly. Slumber on dear Mother's knee;
Close in her loving arms folded, safe as a Dolly can be!
"Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye, Dolly, Slumber while fast the rain falls;
I am your little true mother, You are the dearest of Dolls!"Inside back cover (line): Say Good-Night.
Now that you've come to page the last,
All the pictures are seen and past,
Kiss your fingers and wave your hand,
Sayu good-night to the Sunshine Land!
Say good-night, and not good-buye,
Close the pages without a sigh,
For when you chatter and sing and smile,
Life is Sunchine Land all the while!
(followed by the name Clifton Bingham)Final vignette of fallen lantern, dismembered Japanese doll, and dog chewing on an arm.
