Grace Edith Marion James (11 November 1882 – 6 February 1965, in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

) was an English writer, born in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. She was both an author of children's literature and a Japanese

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

. Her ''Japanese Fairy Tales'' (1910) collected and retold stories from the Japanese folk tradition. It was illustrated by

Warwick Goble Warwick Goble (22 November 1862 – 22 January 1943) was a British illustrator of children's books. He was educated and trained at the City of London School and the Westminster School of Art. He specialized in fairy tales and exotic scenes f ...

. ''Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy tales'' and ''The Moon Maiden and Other Japanese Fairy Tales'' are other editions of the original collection. ''The Three Dwarf Trees'' is based on a Japanese play. ''Japan: Recollections and Impressions'', a memoir of her experiences in Japan, was first published in 1936. Grace James also wrote the John and Mary children's adventure series, one of which, ''John and Mary's Aunt'', is about the author's upbringing in Japan. Her father Thomas was a British Naval officer, who was a member of one of the Naval Missions which visited Japan (probably the Douglas Mission, as the dates coincide). Her parents went there around 1873 and she was born in Tokyo seven years later (to be followed by a brother and a sister). The family lived in five houses in and around Tokyo during this period, and spent their summers at Nikko,

Kamakura is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939. Kamak ...

and

Karuizawa is a resort town located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,323 in 9897 households, and a population density of 130 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Karuizawa is one of the oldest and most ...

. When Grace was twelve, the whole family moved back to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Published books

* ''Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy Tales'' (Macmillan, 1910), illustrated by

; re-issued as ''Japanese Fairy Tales'' and as ''Moon Maiden and Other Japanese Fairy Tales'' The 1910 first edition is not in LC Online Catalog. The last two of these four records report alternative titles and identify the 1923 Macmillan and Co. edition as source.
"Green willow "
(1912);
"Green willow "
(1987);
"Japanese fairy tales"
(1979);
"Moon maiden "
(2005). LC Online Catalog. Library of Congress (lccn.loc.gov). Retrieved 2017-04-11. *''John and Mary'' (1935) *''More about John and Mary'' (1936) *''Japan Recollections and Impressions'' (1936) *''John and Mary Abroad'' (1937) *''John and Mary Detectives'' (1938) *''John and Mary's Secret Society'' (1939) *''The Blakes and the Blacketts'' (1939) *''John and Mary's Visitors'' (1940) *''New Friends for John and Mary'' (1941) *''John and Mary and Miss Rose Brown'' (1942) *''John and Mary at School'' (1944) *''John and Mary's Youth Club'' (1945) *''John and Mary at Riverton'' (1946) *''The Adventures of John and Mary'' (1947) *''John and Mary's Aunt'' (1950) *''Nibs'' (1951) *''Nibs and the New World'' (1953) *''John and Mary in Rome'' (1954) *''John and Mary's Fairy Tales'' (1955) *''John and Mary by Land and Sea'' (1955) *''John and Mary's Japanese Fairy Tales'' (1957) *''Sweetings'' (1957) *''John and Mary and Lisetta'' (1958) *''John and Mary's Treasures'' (1960) *''John and Mary Revisit Rome'' (1963)

References

External links

* * * * (including 4 "from old catalog")
Stonehill House
(home of Grace James during the 1920s - the real 'Smockfarthing' of the John and Mary stories) * (Grace James' sister Elspeth's home, where she was living when she died, later converted into a hotel) {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Grace English children's writers Collectors of fairy tales 1882 births 1965 deaths British expatriates in Japan