Books

London: T.Cadell and W. Davies, 1804. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Quarto. pp. ix, [3], 632, with 8 plates (including frontispiece), five of which are hand-colored. Recent full calf with new endpapers, original red spine label preserved, three armorial ink stamps on the top edge of the text block. Tissue repair to first page of table of contents, ocasional foxing and minor soiling in the margins; overall quite clean and sound. "Barrow accompanied Lord Macartney's mission to the court of China in 1792 as his private secretary, and the present account...is one of the best illustrated English travels on China. The eight plates are from drawings by William Alexander, who also accompanied the embassy and later published his own work. The strict exclusion of Europeans by the Chinese emperors had left China very much terra incognita to the western world well into the nineteenth century. Barrow was an excellent observer, and the text contains a number of descriptions and…

Travels in China by John Barrow is an extensive travelogue detailing his journeys and observations during his time in China, offering insights into the culture, society, and geography of the region during the early 19th century.