Illusion in Java

New York: Random House. Near Fine in Near Fine dj. (c.1939). First Edition. Hardcover. [a very nice copy, with just a touch of wear to the base of the spine, vintage bookseller's label (The Village Book Shop, Carmel, Calif.) on rear pastedown; the jacket is equally nice, just lightly age-toned, with a touch of wear at the corners]. "Only a few miles from over-publicized Bali in the South Seas is the Dutch colony of Java, a colorful island teeming with a population of almost forty million people. [The author] came to this island as a casual visitor. He was fascinated, and before long learned to love it -- loved it so much that he stayed and was impelled to write a rich and tender novel about it. Into the story of Ajoks, the almost fabulous youth with the soul of a great artist who reaches heights that few of his race have ever attained, Fowler has woven much of the strange and beautiful folklore of the Javanese people." .