A Hearnologist's Gem

I have in my possession a somewhat rare copy of O. W. Frost’s Young Hearn which was published in 1958 by The Hokuseido Press in Tokyo. It is strange how what one perceives as a literary treasure could be so easily acquired on Amazon.com. For it seems like the copy which I came into possession of was maybe Albert Mordell’s, or Ichiro Nishizaki’s, copy signed by Frost to the apparent Hearn scholar:

“April 15, 1959

For Albert Mordell who should have written this book

O. W. Frost”

The chances are good that it is a copy owned by one of these two Hearn scholars,  however, there are extensive notes throughout the index of Mordell and Nishizaki whom Mordell compiled works for in Japan. I hope to someday identify exactly who owned this book. Other interesting facts about Young Hearn for those who cannot get their hands on it: the books focusses extensively on Hearn’s family origins and various factoids about his early years, there is in the opening pages a foldout family tree, and a number of quality pictures and scans of articles.

note: Frost’s version of the Hearn family tree does not connect Lafcadio to the gypsy Sir Hugh de Heron as others—Hearn himself—have purported. Here is an online version of a Hearn family tree: http://www5.ocn.ne.jp/~kilib/hearn/study_material/english/family-tree.html