Macoto's Princesses

My favorite place to go when I'm in New York City is probably a surprising choice. It's not far from Grand Central; I can't resist stopping on my way in or on my way home. After the intense, burning cold, the quiet and clean smell of paper is a welcome haven where I can straighten my bangs and disappear. Upstairs is a pretty little cafe, with cream roll cakes and green tea lattes. On the first floor, there are dozens of Japanese magazines; and the basement is full of stationary, rolls of washi paper and cell phone straps. If any lolita asked me what to see in New York City, my immediate answer would be to direct her to Kinokuniya Bookstore.

Yesterday when I was there I found my favorite treasure to date: a picture book. Now officially too old for picture books, I can't give them up. After all, the picture books I read as a child made me who I am today - I can vividly recall each favorite book, each page beautifully illustrated with unicorns, dragons, or fairies. These were the personal mythology of my mother and I, who read them to me. Even today she'll mention one of our favorite titles, and it will still have something relevant yet to teach. So it's no wonder that I began collecting them myself.

This is my newest find, Macoto no Ohimesama - Macoto's Princesses. For those who don't know, Macoto Takahashi is an artist from Japan in the early 1960s and 70s. His artwork was part of the movement that eventually turned into the shoujo manga stylized art we enjoy today, with soft curls and enormous dewy eyes. His work has also graced the covers of the early Gothic and Lolita Bibles, re-emerging to popularity in the 1990s and 2000s, especially among the lolita cultures he depicted. I've always loved his work, but pictures online are becoming fewer and farther between. I've certainly never seen any of his work in print, so I simply had to have this book.

In it, he illustrates several full-length fairytales such as Cinderella, the Little Mermaid (the Hans Christian Anderson version), Thumbelina, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. The rest of the book also contains short, two-page synopsis and artwork of others, such as the Princess and the Frog, the Snow Queen, the story of the girl whose speech let jewels and roses fall from her lips, and even several Japanese fairytales. The artwork in this book is all circa the early 1970s, as he dates each picture. Even better, if you are studying Japanese, these books will be slightly easier to read, as they're written for children and use plenty of katakana and hiragana. Even I with my limited abilities can get through Cinderella.

Labels: recommended reading

posted by Victoria Suzanne @ 2:31 PM