Rev. J. Macgowan — Sidelights on Chinese Life

London , Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. 1907 . First edition. Cloth. A smart first edition of Macgowan"s richly illustrated account of Chinese customs, social life, and everyday culture in late Qing China. In the publisher's original cloth binding. First edition.The work offers an exploration of a wide range of subjects including family life, religious beliefs, servants, agriculture, education, street life, officialdom, and travelling through the Chinese countryside.Illustrated with twenty-eight monochrome plates, and twelve colour plates including a frontispiece. With two plates slightly mis-bound but present, the plate facing p. 129 bound instead facing p. 131, and the plate for p. 139 bound facing p. 129. Collated, complete. The Reverend John Macgowan (1835-1922) was a British Congregational missionary who spent many decades in China, particularly in Fujian province.An informative and engaging portrait of traditional Chinese society written by a long-term resident and observer during a period of profound cultural encounter, Macgowan combines anecdotal observation with commentary on the character, habits, and institutions of Chinese society as encountered by Western residents. In the publisher's original cloth binding. Externally, smart. Slight fading, rubbing, and bumping to spine and extremities. Slight rubbing marks with the odd faint spot of damp staining to upper perimeters of boards. Slight loss to cloth at head of rear joint. Offsetting to endpapers with the odd spot. Internally, firmly bound. Pages bright and clean with the odd spot, heavier to fore edge and first and last few leaves. Very Good . Ill.: Montague Smyth. Very Good .