Mint Editions (Voices From API) – serie

Seen and Unseen: Or, Monologues of a Homeless Snail (1897) is a collection of poems by Yone Noguchi. Written only three years after his arrival in San Francisco, these poems capture the emotions of a young man far from home. Fluent in English and adept with the open, flowing style of free verse, Noguchi remains unique in his vision of earthly life.

Noguchi's poems are songs of light and shadow, in tune with animals, seasons, spirits, and complex emotions. His words are leaves, his thoughts are curtains knocking "with their shadowy hands" upon his door. His "[p]oetry begins with the tireless songs of the cricket, on the lean gray haired hill, in sober-faced evening. / And the next page is Stillness." Alone in a foreign country, he finds solace in the strange music of nature, hope in the words he can make of it. He envisions himself asleep in the depths of a canyon, writing letters that will never arrive, longing for the crickets to sing. "The homeless snail climbing up the pillow, stares upon the silvered star-tears on my eyes! [...] Oh, I am alone! Who knows my to-night's feeling!" He asks, the homeless snail asks, and his reader longs to answer.

This edition of Yone Noguchi's Seen and Unseen: Or, Monologues of a Homeless Snail is a classic of Japanese American literature reimagined for modern readers.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Kokoro (1914) is a novel by Natsume Soseki. Set during a period of modernization in Japan, Kokoro is a story of family, faith, and tragedy that explores timeless themes of isolation and identity. Spanning generations, Kokoro is a classic novel from one of Japan’s most successful twentieth century writers.

Tradition and change, life and death—such are the subjects of Soseki’s masterful, understated tale of unassuaged guilt. On vacation with a friend, the narrator meets an older man who becomes a patient mentor for the young student. Soon, he begins visiting Sensei and his wife at their home in Tokyo, where they live an affluent, simple life. As the years go by, the narrator becomes aware of a secret from Sensei’s past, which his mentor promises to reveal when the time is right. When his father falls ill—around the time of the end of Meiji society—the narrator returns home to be closer to his family. As he tries to remain positive around so much sorrow, he begins to miss his Sensei, who is now getting old himself. As his father prepares to leave the mortal world, the narrator receives a lengthy letter from Tokyo, containing his Sensei’s story within. As one era merges into the next, he reads of the suffering and mistakes his Sensei experienced and incurred on his path through life, drawing them closer and leaving the narrator with some wisdom to remember him by. Eminently human, Kokoro is a beloved story of isolation, morality, and conflict from a master of Japanese fiction.

With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Natsume Soseki’s Kokoro is a classic work of Japanese literature reimagined for modern readers.

Mrs. Spring Fragrance (1912) is a collection of short stories by Sui Sin Far. Inspired by her experience living among Chinese Americans in San Francisco and Seattle, Mrs. Spring Fragrance is considered one of the earliest works of fiction published in the United States by a woman of Chinese heritage.

In “The Inferior Woman,” Mrs. Spring Fragrance encounters her neighbors, the Carmans, as they try to find someone to marry their son. While Mrs. Carman wants him to marry into a family of higher social standing, her son is in love with a local girl who works as a legal secretary. Known by Mrs. Carman as the “Inferior Woman,” she has risen through hard work and perseverance to achieve her position at the law firm. Sympathetic toward her neighbor’s son, Mrs. Spring Fragrance advocates on his behalf. “In the Land of the Free” is the story of a Chinese immigrant who is separated from her young son upon arrival due to insufficient paperwork. Exploring the struggles of this woman to reclaim her son, Sui Sin Far exposes the discrimination and hardships faced by Chinese Americans due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, illuminating the byzantine and restrictive immigration policies which sadly continue under a different guise in modern America.

This edition of Sui Sin Far’s Mrs. Spring Fragrance is a classic of Chinese American literature reimagined for modern readers.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Letters of a Javanese Princess (1921) is a collection of letters by Indonesian political activist and national hero Raden Adjeng Kartini. Written over the last several years of her life to friends and acquaintances in the Netherlands, Kartini's letters illuminate the mind of a young woman with a deep understanding of the political and personal ramifications of injustice in her native Java.

For a young woman without access to a formal education, Raden Adjeng Kartini managed to combine a remarkable empathy for those suffering under an oppressive regime with an incredibly effective willpower to establish herself as a leading political thinker in her country. Decrying the influence of opium on Indonesia's poor, she criticizes the influence of European civilization on its colonial possessions: "Civilization is a blessing, but it has its dark side as well. The tendency to imitate is inborn, I believe. The masses imitate the upper classes, who in turn imitate those of a higher rank, and these again follow the Europeans." Not only is European influence a cause of cultural loss, it creates a demand, in one specific case, for such products as opium, pressuring the Indonesian government to allow its use and sale despite the harm it imposes upon its people. Throughout her letters, Kartini presents a nuanced, balanced critique of both Indonesian society's oppressive treatment of girls and women-a lack of education, forced marriages-and the detrimental consequences of European conquest and cultural assimilation. Letters of a Javanese Princess is a powerful record of one woman's commitment to many, an invaluable resource for scholars of colonialism, and a fascinating text for readers looking to familiarize themselves with the life of a national hero.

This edition of Raden Adjeng Kartini's Letters of a Javanese Princess is a classic of Indonesian literature reimagined for modern readers.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Having studied under famed ethnographer Franz Boas at Columbia University, Martha Warren Beckwith dedicated her career to recording and contextualizing the traditions of people from around the world. Specializing in Jamaican, Hawaiian, Sioux, and Mandan-Hidatsa cultures, she published widely acclaimed works of folklore and ethnography through her interviews with native storytellers around the world.

Hawaiian Mythology—her most recognized work—is a highly celebrated, monumental study that brings together three decades of exhaustive research of indigenous Hawaiian folklore, culture, and society. Setting itself apart from more conventional collections of folklore, Hawaiian Mythology does not concern itself with simply translating or retelling popular Hawaiian myths; instead, Beckwith presents variant narratives and core folklore motifs, guiding the reader through every significant theme and deity in Hawaiian mythology. Without question, it is one of the most comprehensive studies ever conducted on the indigenous culture of Hawai’i and her people before annexation; and is widely considered to be an authoritative text on Hawaiian folklore as it is known today.

This edition of Martha Warren Beckwith’s Hawaiian Mythology is a classic of anthropological literature reimagined for modern readers.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.