AN EXCEPTIONAL LARGE UNCUT COPY IN ORIGINAL BOARDS: FIRST EDITION OF ELLIS' EMBASSY TO CHINA, 1817, WITH SUPERB HAND-COLORED AQUATINTS AND LARGE FOLDING MAP OF THE ROUTE TO THE BRITISH EMBASSY IN CHINA
ELLIS, Sir Henry. Journal of the Proceedings of the Late Embassy to China; Comprising a Correct Narrative of the Public Transactions of the Embassy, of the Voyage to and from China. London: John Murray, 1817. Quarto, original drab boards sympathetically rebacked, remnants of original printed paper spine label laid down, uncut.
First edition of this entertaining account of Lord Amherst's embassy to the Chinese Emperor, splendidly illustrated with seven beautiful hand-colored aquatints depicting the Emperor's summer palace at Tien-Sing, the Tong-Chow harbor, a temple near Nankin, the island of Pula Leat, and views of other harbor cities, as well as three maps (one large folding), in original boards.
"After the peace of 1815, the English government turned their attention to the complaints of injustice and exactions on the part of the Chinese mandarins which reached them from time to time from the English merchants at Canton. Lord Amherst was chosen to proceed to Peking as British envoy, to represent to the Emperor Kea K'ing the wrongs which British subjects were suffering under his rule… Ellis, a diplomat, accompanied Amherst in his embassy to China, in capacity of third commissioner, in 1816. A mission to China was then so rare an event in the history of Europe, that Ellis published in 1817 an authorized narrative of the journey and transactions of the embassy" (DNB). The detailed aquatint plates were prepared by J. Clark from the drawings of Ellis' friend Charles Abbot. With errata sheet at rear. Abbey Travel 536. Hill, 413. Tooley 208. Prideaux, 250. Faded early owner ink signatures on title page.
Faint intermittent dampstain along upper edge, a bit of spotting to text, plates clean, with vivid coloring. A beautiful wide-margined copy, desirable in the original boards and uncut.