Through China with a Camera
by Thomson, John
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Good Minus/No Jacket
- Seller
-
Pacifica, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Westminster, England: A. Constable & Co., 1898. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Good Minus/No Jacket. In English. Presumed first printing of the first edition. Author's introduction dated January 1898. Size 8.7.5 x 7 inches. Bound in brown buckram, with fairly crisp gilt-stamped emblem to the front board and gently faded gilt-stamped lettering to the spine. Apparently bound in the U.S.; with the Dodd, Mead & Company imprint to the base of the spine. Noticeably rubbed and bumped spine head and tail, and with moderately bumped and rubbed corners. Moderate abrading evident at both corners of the spine head. Fairly clean binding. Hinges tender but holding. T.E.G. and with attractively deckled fore-edge and bottom edge. Half-title, frontispiece, title page. With xiv and 284 numbered pages, including an appendix about the aboriginal dialects of Formosa and with 5 tables regarding tribal names and various languages spoken. Pages 173/4 and 175/6 unopened, i.e., unseparated. Title page states, "With nearly 100 illustrations." A more accurate count might be: 74 full page b/w plates hors texte with a total of 83 b/w photographic illustrations. Photos made via the wet collodion process and printed on semi-glossy stock. An impressively clean interior for a book of this vintage. No stains, stampings or underlining noticed. No missing pages or photos found. A Good Minus copy. A first UK edition is now a very rare book. 2 lbs. 10 oz. This is in effect an inexpensive but enlarged version of the author's earlier work, Illustrations of China and its People. All of the photographs were made in China before 1872. For the present book, Thomson states, they "have been reproduced and transformed into printing blocks by a most effective halftone process, so that nothing in the original plates is lost." The text of the book recounts some of Thomson's troubles making photographs in China. John Thomson [1837-1921] was one of the first to photograph the people and landscape of China for Western eyes. Thomson's travels in China were often perilous and most of the people he encountered had never seen a Westerner or a camera before.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Marc Sena Carrel (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 008165
- Title
- Through China with a Camera
- Author
- Thomson, John
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Good Minus
- Jacket Condition
- No Jacket
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 1st Edition 1st Printing
- Publisher
- A. Constable & Co.
- Place of Publication
- Westminster, England
- Date Published
- 1898
- Pages
- 284
- Weight
- 2.60 lbs
- Keywords
- Travelogue China, 19th century
Terms of Sale
Marc Sena Carrel
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Marc Sena Carrel
Biblio member since 2022
Pacifica, California
About Marc Sena Carrel
I deal principally in rare and fine books. I also sell antique prints, including Japanese ukiyo-e. I have eclectic and wide-ranging interests and my collection generally emphasizes art titles. Areas of book specialization include: Art, Architecture, Design, Antiques, Antiquities, Small Press/Fine Press. As for prints, I am chiefly interested in ukiyo-e, ornithologicals, iconography and churches. I have a small but choice selection of books and prints available for the discriminating collector/buyer. My goal is to establish and maintain a stock in trade of a few thousand fine books and a few hundred noteworthy prints.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Buckram
- A plain weave fabric normally made from cotton or linen which is stiffened with starch or other chemicals to cover the book...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Tail
- The heel of the spine.
- Crisp
- A term often used to indicate a book's new-like condition. Indicates that the hinges are not loosened. A book described as crisp...
- Unopened
- A state in which all or some of the pages of a book have not been separated from the adjacent pages, caused by a traditional...
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...