The Costume of China, illustrated by Sixty Engravings - with - The Punishments of China. Illustrated with Twenty-two Engravings - both with explanations in English and French -
Major George Henry Mason
1800 - Printed for William Miller by S. Gosnell, London - Early issues -title page dated 1800, text watermarked 1811, plates 1817
Large folio pair of these two highlights of early western sinology, in magnificent contemporary bindings. Containing eighty-two exquisitely hand-coloured stipple-engraved plates engraved by J. Dadley. Each plate is accompanied by a descriptive text leaf in English and French.
The sixty hand-coloured plates in ‘Costume of China’ depict individual Chinese in dress appropriate to their occupation or rank and are based on originals by the Cantonese export artist Pu-Qua.
The twenty-two hand-coloured plates in ‘Punishments of China’ are based on paintings attributed to the artist George Henry Mason who, with William Alexander, travelled to China at the end of the eighteenth century.
‘Punishments of China’ is the ‘best western record of these peculiar and often gruesome practices, describing in graphic detail the forms of punishment from less severe penalties like Torturing the Fingers and Twisting a Man’s Ears, to the most serious The Manner of Beheading. The accompanying text, in both French and English, explains the method by which the punishment is delivered and examples of the crimes that would merit such a punishment. For example the fitting punishment for merchants that had committed frauds, impositions, or any other unwarrantable tricks of the trade was the Punishment of the Swing, in which a man is suspended by his shoulders and ankles, in a very painful situation.’ [Wittockiana 49]
While the methods are clearly barbaric by today's standards, Mason's book, along with the translation of the Qing penal code in 1810, created growing concern in Britain and other Western countries over the perceived severity and unnecessary cruelty of the sentences described. [Abbey] References: Bibliotheca Wittockiana Western Travellers in China Discovering the Middle Kingdom, 49. Lust, Western Books on China, 712. Löwendahl, China Illustrata Nova, 710, 715. Abbey Travel 533, 532. Cordier Bibliotheca Sinica, 1858, 549. Tooley, English Books with Coloured Plates 1790 to 1860 (1954), 320. Colas 2009, 2010.
Two folios (binding size 37x27.7cm, plate size 36x26cm), pp. [2] [4 (titles)] [10 (publisher’s note, preface)] [2 (table of contents)] 60 colour plates each followed by two pages of description [2]; [2] [4 (titles)] [4 (preface)] [2 (table of contents)] 22 colour plates each followed by two pages of description [2]. Bound in contemporary red straight grained morocco, boards with patterned borders in blind and gilt, spines lettered and intricately decorated in gilt and blind, board edges decorated in gilt, charcoal grey coated endpapers, all edges gilt. Condition: Fine but for the usual offsetting form the plates, in very good contemporary bindings, some wear to corners, and darkening of spines. Punishments with closed tear to lower edge of one descriptive text page Ref: 111773 Price: HK$ 50,000
The sixty hand-coloured plates in ‘Costume of China’ depict individual Chinese in dress appropriate to their occupation or rank and are based on originals by the Cantonese export artist Pu-Qua.
The twenty-two hand-coloured plates in ‘Punishments of China’ are based on paintings attributed to the artist George Henry Mason who, with William Alexander, travelled to China at the end of the eighteenth century.
‘Punishments of China’ is the ‘best western record of these peculiar and often gruesome practices, describing in graphic detail the forms of punishment from less severe penalties like Torturing the Fingers and Twisting a Man’s Ears, to the most serious The Manner of Beheading. The accompanying text, in both French and English, explains the method by which the punishment is delivered and examples of the crimes that would merit such a punishment. For example the fitting punishment for merchants that had committed frauds, impositions, or any other unwarrantable tricks of the trade was the Punishment of the Swing, in which a man is suspended by his shoulders and ankles, in a very painful situation.’ [Wittockiana 49]
While the methods are clearly barbaric by today's standards, Mason's book, along with the translation of the Qing penal code in 1810, created growing concern in Britain and other Western countries over the perceived severity and unnecessary cruelty of the sentences described. [Abbey] References: Bibliotheca Wittockiana Western Travellers in China Discovering the Middle Kingdom, 49. Lust, Western Books on China, 712. Löwendahl, China Illustrata Nova, 710, 715. Abbey Travel 533, 532. Cordier Bibliotheca Sinica, 1858, 549. Tooley, English Books with Coloured Plates 1790 to 1860 (1954), 320. Colas 2009, 2010.
Two folios (binding size 37x27.7cm, plate size 36x26cm), pp. [2] [4 (titles)] [10 (publisher’s note, preface)] [2 (table of contents)] 60 colour plates each followed by two pages of description [2]; [2] [4 (titles)] [4 (preface)] [2 (table of contents)] 22 colour plates each followed by two pages of description [2]. Bound in contemporary red straight grained morocco, boards with patterned borders in blind and gilt, spines lettered and intricately decorated in gilt and blind, board edges decorated in gilt, charcoal grey coated endpapers, all edges gilt. Condition: Fine but for the usual offsetting form the plates, in very good contemporary bindings, some wear to corners, and darkening of spines. Punishments with closed tear to lower edge of one descriptive text page Ref: 111773 Price: HK$ 50,000