Back to Peking with Yi Ying
Finding a book signed or inscribed by Vincent Starrett is not difficult.
Finding a book he purchased from a French bookshop in China, that he inscribed to a young woman who served as his guide, is a story worth telling.
I’ve already written a few articles about the period of time Vincent Starrett and Rachel Latimer spent in Peking as part of their round-the-world tour in the 1930s. I’ve recently come across a little more information about that trip that adds perspective on one of the most important people Starrett met there: Yi Ying.
First, here’s what Starrett says about Miss Ying in his biography, Born in a Bookshop:
“The most valuable friend I made in Peking was Miss Yi Ying, a student at the local university. She introduced me to other scholars, guided me on journeys into obscure corners of the old city, translated for me old Chinese mystery stories never before translated, and was a companion and counselor beyond compare for many months."
Starrett no doubt paid her for her efforts, but he also appears to have given her at least one inscribed book. (We are talking about Starrett, after all, who seems to have autographed every paper object he ever saw.)
This copy of his book, The Great Hotel Murder was purchased at the French Bookstore in Peiping (Peking) China, according to the little blue stamp pasted on the rear paste-down endpaper.
The inscription on the front free endpaper reads:
To Yi Ying–
In friendship and with great good will.
Vincent Starrett
Peking: 19 January, 1936
I find it hard to believe that Starrett’s selection of The Great Hotel Murder was a coincidence. That was the book which Starrett sold to Hollywood and made his round-the-world trip possible in the first place. If it had not been for this novel, Starrett would have never gone to Peking.
The extensive dedication to Murder in Peking, with Yi Ying taking the position of honor as the first to be named.
Starrett further recognized Miss Ying by including her among the large cast of characters in his dedication the post-Peking book, Murder in Peking.
Here it is:
This story is affectionately dedicated to all good friends of my Peking days, specifically to Yi Ying, Helen Burton, Ida Pruitt, Kay Toddy, Lucille Swan, Dorothy St. Clair, Eleanor and Owen Lattimore, Peg and Edgar Snow, Dorothea and Frank Smothers, Zina and Frank Oliver, May Newhall, John Hope-Johnstone, Malcolm MacDonald, Lin Yutang and Chen Shu-yi.
NOTE to those handful of fellow Starrett collectors:
You won’t find this dedication in the Invincible Press paperback published in Australia. Nor will you see it in an earlier incarnation of the book, published under the title The Laughing Buddha, by Magna Publications of Mount Morris, Illinois in 1937.
Miss Ying does have a small public history in the United States. I’ve found a few stories that mention her, the most prominent being this feature in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for Monday, Sept. 26, 1938. At the time, she was a student at the University of Hawaii’s oriental institute, where she planned to add Russian to her list of languages, which already included Chinese, English, French and German.
A feature story on Yi Ying from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for Monday, Sept. 26, 1938. Click on the image for a larger version.
She was a well-traveled young woman by this time, having been born in China and traveled with her parents to Europe when she was three. Her father’s studies took them to Germany and France. The Great War saw them traveling to Switzerland. After returning to China, she won a scholarship at the age of 15 that allowed her to study for four years at Wellesley. It must have been after her studies there that she came back to China and met Starrett during his Peking period.
Her goal was to return to China and write biographies of women “who are not just beautiful, but who have actually done something worthwhile.” Perhaps that’s why the article leads with a reference to the “Fragrant Concubine,” a Chinese legend based on a historical figure. The young woman, who was said to have had a enticing natural aroma, was captured and brought to the Emperor as his concubine. Variations of the legend say she either eventually agreed to his advances, or committed suicide. It would be interesting to find Miss Ying’s article on that topic, but so far, I’ve failed.
After this feature story, the paper trail for Yi Ying grows sparse. I’ve found a few listings for books attributed to Yi Ying, but the listings are in Chinese and it’s difficult to know if it is the same woman.
Anyone who might know more is invited to get in touch with me.
Speaking of Murder in Peking, I just picked up a new edition in Japanese, published by Ronso Kaigai.
At least, that’s what I think it is. Except for the title and Starrett’s name, everything else is in Japanese, so I’m at a bit of a loss. At any rate, here’s a scan of the dust jacket. As you can see, it carries some of the story’s Laughing Buddha roots, at least in the image.
I’ve tried using Google translate on the dust jacket text and the results were, um, laughable.
Oh well, just another mystery to work on for another day.