From The Horniman: Japanese Fairy Tales

By paulcox Last edited 189 months ago

Last Updated 06 March 2009

From The Horniman: Japanese Fairy Tales
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It's all going to end in mouse tears.
It's all going to end in mouse tears.
Also kept here are the museum's own archives, including early guides and suggestion books. Visitors recorded complaints about the Sunday opening hours, which encouraged loitering by idle young people who were "clearly from Peckham and Duwich, not Forest Hill."
Also kept here are the museum's own archives, including early guides and suggestion books. Visitors recorded complaints about the Sunday opening hours, which encouraged loitering by idle young people who were "clearly from Peckham and Duwich, not Forest Hill."
The library is now housed in the CUE building, a low-energy oddity with a live grass roof.
The library is now housed in the CUE building, a low-energy oddity with a live grass roof.
The stacks contain 30,000 old and new titles in world cultures, natural history, and musicology.
The stacks contain 30,000 old and new titles in world cultures, natural history, and musicology.

Throughout March we're exploring the collections of our Museum of the Month, the Horniman in Forest Hill.

Takejiro Hasegawa made a bundle in the late 19th and early 20th centuries selling exotic crêpe paper storybooks to European travellers in Japan. Always the completist, Frederick John Horniman bought the whole series between 1885 and 1889 and had the slim stories bound into a set of four volumes. These early examples of Takejiro's handiwork are just as captivating to modern readers, with lavish illustrations featuring dialogue printed within the scenes like early manga. The set aren't on display in the museum, but are available to peruse in the library's rare books collection.

The Horniman isn't especially known for its library, but it should be. Like the rest of the museum it's built upon the collections of its founder, and carries the same inimitable personality. While visits are by appointment, this is only because of limited desk space and shouldn't put anyone off; in a pinch an appointment can be made from the museum's front desk, usually for immediate entry. The Librarian April Yasamee and Archivist Hayley Egan were happy to help us poke around and we didn't really want to leave. A few minutes with the online catalogue should be sufficient to inspire a visit. While you're there, don't miss the oddity-laden book sale table.