Travels In China. Containing descriptions, observations, and comparisons, made and collected in the course of a short residence at the Imperial Palace of Yuen-Min-Yuen, and on a subsequent journey through the country from Pekin to Canton

London: Printed by A. Strahan Printers' Street, for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1806. Second Edition. Half-leather hardcover. Good/No Dust Jacket As Issued.

Early calf-backed paper boards, the leather is worn, dried, with chipping and has been professionally stabilized. Wear to the edges with minimal repair. The front joint has been strengthened. 4to; 11 inches tall; 632 pages with an index.

Illustrated with a Hand-colored aquatint frontispiece, plus 7 engraved plates (4 are hand-colored). The eight plates are from drawings by William Alexander, who also accompanied the embassy and later published his own work. Also, with some line drawings and musical scores; the two uncolored plates are double-paged. "Barrow accompanied Lord Macartney's mission to the court of China in 1792 as his private secretary, and the present account of the country, accompanied by a number of fine plates, is one of the best illustrated English travels on China.

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 of Chinese artifacts and novelties" (Hill, Collection of Pacific Voyages).

Provenance: John Winkle (from his brother Henry Winkle, inscription on the front paste-down); to his daughter E.E. Erskine "upon his decease" (inscription January 22, 1847).

Ref: Abbey Travel 531; Hill, 65; Tooley 84; Cordier, B. S., t. IV, 2388-9