Yashiro (in Oiso) to Bernard Berenson

Oiso, Dec. 8th

My dear B.B.,

I have been comparatively well these days and I could work on my forthcoming book on Japanese art “Masterpieces of Japanese Art”, which would be published in London early next year, I hope. With your permission, I want to dedicate the book to you. It is going to be a very beautiful book in point of illustrations, but according to my illness I could make only a very unpolished mss [manuscripts] for the text. An Englishman at Oxford has revised my mss & I have gone through his revised text very carefully. So the book would not be very bad. I am looking forward to the day, when you would look through the book.

I am going to enter a hospital from to-morrow to get a minor surgical operation. After I recover from this operation (which would be after about ten days) I shall become better & shall be able to move about.

While I was in London in summer last year, I met the officers of the Medici Society, who had published my book on Botticelli, & they told me that they were willing to republish the book in a new edition. Although my book was very unsatisfactory to me at the time and more so now, yet that book contains my young life & enthusiasm. If I have chance to republish the book, making it up-to-date adding new materials, & correcting all that should be corrected, I shall be very happy. The publisher told me that the old book is still used & is still demanded in the market. In order to realize this, I must come to Florence & ask you to let me work in your library at I Tatti for at least three months. The publishers seem to wish that some Fund would help them. Can you not recommend the work to some Fund, in order to let me do the work? As I am going to write to John Walker one of these days, I shall consult with him. If you can help me at all for this work, please do. Because this is one of the works, which I want to finish, while I am alive & also because this work would enable me to come back to I Tatti, while you are there!

This letter turned out to be a very egotistic letter of mine, speaking only about myself. Please pardon me.

How are you? In Japan it is already very cold. I do hope that you would take good care of yourself. My wife Fumi and my son Akio join me to send our love to you. 

Yours ever,

Yuki

Please remember us to Nicky.