Vtg Chinese Ghost and Love Stories Pantheon 1946 HC Block Print Illustrated

Good vintage condition. No dust jacket. Some tanning/aging on front/back inside cover/cover pages. Pages are clean with no markings noticed. Binding intact. Some wear/age on cover, corners and edges. Please review all photos.

The 1946 Pantheon hardcover edition of Chinese Ghost and Love Stories, translated by Rose Quong, is a selection of tales from Pu Songling's (1640–1715) renowned anthology, the Liaozhai Zhiyi (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio). The book is a collection of traditional Chinese stories featuring supernatural encounters, romance, and social commentary.
The stories in the collection explore a range of themes, often using the supernatural as a veil to critique the society of the time. They feature interactions between human scholars and various entities such as ghosts, fox-fairies, goddesses, spirits of animals, flowers, and trees.
The love stories, in particular, often depict a world of fantasy where true love is rare in reality, leading the author to create a supernatural realm to satisfy a yearning for happiness and to explore themes of passion that transcend time and space. The narratives blend elements of horror, romance, and occasionally humor, and provide insights into the rigid social norms and injustices of 17th and 18th-century China. Includes an introduction written by Martin Buber.