Laurence Oliphant; Francoise Guizot — La Chine

Paris, Michel Levy Freres, 1875. Leather. A French translation of Laurence Oliphant's travel account of his time spent in China with Lord Elgin. In French.A new edition. Illustrated with a frontispiece, fifteen plates, and in-text illustrations.Collated, complete.Laurence Oliphant's detailed and vivid travel work on China. A wonderful work looking into history and culture of China, following the author's trip to China in 1857-1860. Oliphant was the private secretary to Lord Elgin, accompanying him to Calcutta, Hong Kong, Canton, Tientsin, and Yedo. They voyage to China with the intention of signing treaties to open trade between China and Britain. In this volume Oliphant accounts the gunboat diplomacy of the nineteenth century. Lord Elgin was a colonial administrator and diplomat, known for his actions during the Second Opium War, including ordering the destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860. With an introduction by Francois Guizot, an important French historian and politician.A translation of Oliphant's volume on his Japanese travels was also published. In the original quarter morocco binding with cloth to the boards. Externally, head of the joints are cracked, head of the spine is lifting. Some loss to the head and tail of the spine. Some rubbing to the boards and spine. A little marking to the head of the rear board. Spine is a little faded. Front hinge is a little strained. Two institutional label to the front paste downs. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are bright and clean with some occasional spots. Front endpaper, half title, and frontispiece are detaching. Faded stamp to the title page and to a couple of other pages. Good . Ill.: Various. Good .