Shanghai griffin

PREFACE

THE aim of "Letters of a Shanghai Griffin" is to convey an impression of life in the Far East as it appeared to an individual for whom the serious side of any subject has never possessed so powerful an attraction as has its humorous aspect.
I offer this explanation in the hope that it may be regarded, by indulgent readers, as a plea in extentiation of the book's many faults.The stories are mainly incidents within the actual experience of the writer, who has attempted to portray them in their own Oriental colouring rather than by means of precisive literary expression.

JAY DENBY.
SHANGHAI, CHINA,
October 1, 1911.


This book, one of the classics of Old Shanghai, was first published in 1910 by the China Printing Company in Shanghai. The 1911 revised edition was reprinted several times. Griffin was a word in Shanghailander-speak meaning a new arrival, and referred to both people and horses.