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China - Pictorial, Descriptive, and Historical. With some account of Ava and the Burmese, Siam, and Anam -
Julia Corner
1853 - Henry G. Bohn, London - First Edition
A compilation of various writings on China, with steel engraved map, and 85 black and white woodcut illustrations. Beautifully bound in modern pictorial cloth.
A large portion of the writing is from Julia Corner’s History of China, other authors include John Davis and Wells Williams.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1853 - Henry G. Bohn, London - First Edition
A compilation of various writings on China, with steel engraved map, and 85 black and white woodcut illustrations. Beautifully bound in modern pictorial cloth.A large portion of the writing is from Julia Corner’s History of China, other authors include John Davis and Wells Williams.
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Price HK$ 3,000
The Encyclopaedia Sinica -
Samuel Couling
1917 - Kelly and Walsh, Shanghai - First Edition
‘Couling’s work, published in 1917, covered so much ground with such accuracy and consistency that it has become established as an essential tool for scholars wishing to understand how new China was seen and interpreted at the time.’
A fundamentally important book regarding China at the turn of the 20th century, Couling’s volume quickly became an invaluable resource for travellers, historians, and anthropologists seeking a basic knowledge of Chinese culture and international relations. Presented in an encyclopaedic format, the book contains a multitude of informative, yet easily digestible informative entries on everything from religion, agriculture, language, and history, to local myths and legends.
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Price HK$ 1,500
1917 - Kelly and Walsh, Shanghai - First Edition
‘Couling’s work, published in 1917, covered so much ground with such accuracy and consistency that it has become established as an essential tool for scholars wishing to understand how new China was seen and interpreted at the time.’A fundamentally important book regarding China at the turn of the 20th century, Couling’s volume quickly became an invaluable resource for travellers, historians, and anthropologists seeking a basic knowledge of Chinese culture and international relations. Presented in an encyclopaedic format, the book contains a multitude of informative, yet easily digestible informative entries on everything from religion, agriculture, language, and history, to local myths and legends.
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Price HK$ 1,500
China in Sign and Symbol - with decorations by Kent Crane -
Louise Crane
1926 - Kelly and Walsh, Shanghai - First Edition
‘All symbols are of universal use and date from earliest antiquity. Mrs. Louise Crane has taken in hand in this volume to describe some of the symbols she has observed in the social life of the Chinese... symbols are our agents.’
Gorgeously presented in a vivid art-deco dust jacket, this profusely illustrated work is a nicely put together study of the ornate shop signs and enigmatic symbols from 1926, explaining the customs and tradition they are based on. Illustrated by Kent Crane with 49 photographs and full colour plates, depicting different symbols and signs, all brightly coloured, some heightened in gold, and including two large folding coloured plates.
Organised to show how each group of symbols applies to life - The Inner Man; The Outer Man; His Occupation; His Funds; His General Needs; His Health; and His Future State.
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Price HK$ 19,000
1926 - Kelly and Walsh, Shanghai - First Edition
‘All symbols are of universal use and date from earliest antiquity. Mrs. Louise Crane has taken in hand in this volume to describe some of the symbols she has observed in the social life of the Chinese... symbols are our agents.’Gorgeously presented in a vivid art-deco dust jacket, this profusely illustrated work is a nicely put together study of the ornate shop signs and enigmatic symbols from 1926, explaining the customs and tradition they are based on. Illustrated by Kent Crane with 49 photographs and full colour plates, depicting different symbols and signs, all brightly coloured, some heightened in gold, and including two large folding coloured plates.
Organised to show how each group of symbols applies to life - The Inner Man; The Outer Man; His Occupation; His Funds; His General Needs; His Health; and His Future State.
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Price HK$ 19,000
Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Courts of Siam and Cochin China -
John Crawfurd
1830 - Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, London - Second Edition
Crawfurd’s intelligent and comprehensive account of his mission to Siam and Vietnam via Singapore and Malaysia, volume one being his narrative of the mission itself, whilst volume two describes the people, places, customs, manners and other observations made during that time. In original boards and spine, full margins and partially unopened. Profusely illustrated throughout, with engraved maps, engraved plates some of which are large fold-out panoramas, and woodcuts.
‘In 1821 Crawfurd, then based in Calcutta, was appointed to head a mission to Siam and Vietnam, with the primary objective of opening up commerce. He made little headway with the suspicious local authorities and achieved no political and little commercial advantage, despite instructions to seek trade on liberal terms without demanding the exclusive privileges customary in the past. But the official report, which he submitted on his return to Calcutta in December 1822, provided invaluable information.’
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Price HK$ 18,000
1830 - Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, London - Second Edition
Crawfurd’s intelligent and comprehensive account of his mission to Siam and Vietnam via Singapore and Malaysia, volume one being his narrative of the mission itself, whilst volume two describes the people, places, customs, manners and other observations made during that time. In original boards and spine, full margins and partially unopened. Profusely illustrated throughout, with engraved maps, engraved plates some of which are large fold-out panoramas, and woodcuts.‘In 1821 Crawfurd, then based in Calcutta, was appointed to head a mission to Siam and Vietnam, with the primary objective of opening up commerce. He made little headway with the suspicious local authorities and achieved no political and little commercial advantage, despite instructions to seek trade on liberal terms without demanding the exclusive privileges customary in the past. But the official report, which he submitted on his return to Calcutta in December 1822, provided invaluable information.’
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Price HK$ 18,000
My Journey to Lhasa -
Alexandra David-Neel
1927 - Harper & Brothers, New York and London - First Edition published simultaneously with the London Edition
A bright first edition in the scarce dust jacket, by the explorer, shamaness, and full-blown eccentric, Alexandra David-Neel, one of the most extraordinary pioneers of her generation. Illustrated throughout with photographs.
‘Mrs. David-Neel went to Lhasa simply because she was not allowed to, and because it was her spiritual home... this was the Frenchwoman’s justification for stealing through the winter plains and mountains of Tibet towards the sacred capital Lhasa in 1923.’ - Jane Robinson, Wayward Women.
Her expedition to the sacred city forced her over the mountains and through the harshest winter storms the Tibetan climate had to offer, before eventually managing to enter the city disguised as a male beggar. Accompanied throughout by her trusted sidekick, and eventually adopted son, Yongden, David-Neel covers every topic from spiritualism, geography, politics, to ‘how-to-guides’ on tasks such as temperature manipulation and levitation. An inspiration to many, and one of the most fascinating female travel writers of all time, David-Neel’s work is a testament to the power of determination and endurance.
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Price HK$ 5,500
1927 - Harper & Brothers, New York and London - First Edition published simultaneously with the London Edition
A bright first edition in the scarce dust jacket, by the explorer, shamaness, and full-blown eccentric, Alexandra David-Neel, one of the most extraordinary pioneers of her generation. Illustrated throughout with photographs.‘Mrs. David-Neel went to Lhasa simply because she was not allowed to, and because it was her spiritual home... this was the Frenchwoman’s justification for stealing through the winter plains and mountains of Tibet towards the sacred capital Lhasa in 1923.’ - Jane Robinson, Wayward Women.
Her expedition to the sacred city forced her over the mountains and through the harshest winter storms the Tibetan climate had to offer, before eventually managing to enter the city disguised as a male beggar. Accompanied throughout by her trusted sidekick, and eventually adopted son, Yongden, David-Neel covers every topic from spiritualism, geography, politics, to ‘how-to-guides’ on tasks such as temperature manipulation and levitation. An inspiration to many, and one of the most fascinating female travel writers of all time, David-Neel’s work is a testament to the power of determination and endurance.
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Price HK$ 5,500
China's Revolution 1911-1912 -
Edwin J. Dingle
1912 - McBride, New York - First American Edition
‘Dingle, of the China Press, a newly launched English-language newspaper in Shanghai, was one of the few foreign reporters in Hankou at the time of the revolution’. In this superb example of the first American edition, published the same year as the first English edition, Dingle not only gives a day-to-day description of what was happening, but also gives the history leading up to the 1911 revolution. This is one of the major sources of the wartime pictures, with 36 black and white photographs (on 32 full page photographic plates), accompanied by two large folding maps.
‘This volume is a popular history of the Revolution in China that broke out at Wuchang, Hankow and Hanyang in October of 1911. The narrative contains a good deal of new information touching upon revolutionism in China, and the events leading up to the present climax. The magnitude of this Revolution cannot possibly be understood yet; but this volume is written in the hope that it will enable the student otherwise untutored to understand much that one absorbs in chine life.’ [authors' note].
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Price HK$ 4,000
1912 - McBride, New York - First American Edition
‘Dingle, of the China Press, a newly launched English-language newspaper in Shanghai, was one of the few foreign reporters in Hankou at the time of the revolution’. In this superb example of the first American edition, published the same year as the first English edition, Dingle not only gives a day-to-day description of what was happening, but also gives the history leading up to the 1911 revolution. This is one of the major sources of the wartime pictures, with 36 black and white photographs (on 32 full page photographic plates), accompanied by two large folding maps.‘This volume is a popular history of the Revolution in China that broke out at Wuchang, Hankow and Hanyang in October of 1911. The narrative contains a good deal of new information touching upon revolutionism in China, and the events leading up to the present climax. The magnitude of this Revolution cannot possibly be understood yet; but this volume is written in the hope that it will enable the student otherwise untutored to understand much that one absorbs in chine life.’ [authors' note].
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Price HK$ 4,000
Across China on Foot -
Edwin J. Dingle
1911 - J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd., Bristol - First Edition
Profusely illustrated mostly with photographs by Dingle.
‘Edwin Dingle’s Across China on Foot is one of the great classics of China adventure writing. Dingle was articulate, perceptive and an eccentric in the true British tradition. He recounts his adventures as he travels up the Yangtze River from Shanghai and then by foot south west across some of China’s most wild and woolly territory to Burma’ - Earnshaw Books.
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Price HK$ 1,100
1911 - J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd., Bristol - First Edition
Profusely illustrated mostly with photographs by Dingle.‘Edwin Dingle’s Across China on Foot is one of the great classics of China adventure writing. Dingle was articulate, perceptive and an eccentric in the true British tradition. He recounts his adventures as he travels up the Yangtze River from Shanghai and then by foot south west across some of China’s most wild and woolly territory to Burma’ - Earnshaw Books.
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Price HK$ 1,100
The China Coast – Signed -
Ivon A. Donnelly
1931 - Tientsin Press, Tientsin - First Edition
Boldly signed by Donnelly on the front free endpaper.
A wonderful account of voyages on China’s coast and waterways, Profusely illustrated throughout with Donnelly’s charming line sketches, six wonderful full page colour plates from water colours, and nine maps. With a poem by Joan Power at the end of each section.
Chapters on the Gulf of Pechili, Taku Bar, the Yellow Sea, the Yangtze estuary, the Chusan archipelago, and the South China Sea.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1931 - Tientsin Press, Tientsin - First Edition
Boldly signed by Donnelly on the front free endpaper.A wonderful account of voyages on China’s coast and waterways, Profusely illustrated throughout with Donnelly’s charming line sketches, six wonderful full page colour plates from water colours, and nine maps. With a poem by Joan Power at the end of each section.
Chapters on the Gulf of Pechili, Taku Bar, the Yellow Sea, the Yangtze estuary, the Chusan archipelago, and the South China Sea.
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Price HK$ 3,000