Monkey by Wu Cheng-en | Translated by Arthur Waley | Dust Jacket by Duncan Grant

Monkey is the title of Arthur Waley’s popular 1942 abridged translation of the traditional Chinese folk tale Journey to the West which was first published during the Ming Dynasty in the 16th century and is now ascribed to the scholar Wu Cheng-en. It actually translates only thirty of the hundred chapters of the original tale.

This 1944 War Economy Standard edition was the fourth impression of the book and features a very beautiful dust jacket design by Bloomsbury Group painter Duncan Grant.

Monkey: Journey to the West has recently been adapted for the stage in the form of a circus-opera by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, the co-creators of the virtual pop band Gorillaz, and Chen Shi-zheng.