Books

London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, 1873. Skilful repairs to spines and corners, some uneven toning to vol. 1; some intermittent pale spotting (mainly to prelims), one leaf in vol. 2 with upper corner irregularly trimmed by binder, upper outer corners lightly bumped. Four volumes, folio (472 x 345 mm; 18.5 x 13.5 inches). 222 photographs on 96 plates, produced by the Autotype Mechanical Printing Process of Spencer, Sawyer, Bird and Co., London; with guards. Letterpress titles and descriptions. Original black cloth, gilt-lettered and decorated on covers, each front cover with central gilt block of the Confucian Temple, Peking, all edges gilt. First edition of volumes 2-4, second edition of volume 1, of this important photographic record of China, made by the pioneering Scottish photographer John Thomson (1837-1921), one of the first photographers to travel to the Far East. Thomson documented the people, landscapes, art, and artifacts of the Chinese culture. He established…