Around the World with General Grant; A Narrative of the Visit of General U.S. Grant, Ex-President of the United States, To Various Countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in 1877, 1878, 1879. To Which are Added Certain Conversations with General Grant on Questions Connected with American Politics and History

New York: Subscription Book Department, 1879. First Edition. Leather bound. Fine. First edition of Around the World with General Grant by John Russell Young, published in 1879.. Quarto, [two volumes], xii, 632pp; xvi, 632pp. Publisher's deluxe three-quarter brown morocco, gilt-tooled spine, brown pebbled cloth boards. Five raised bands, title in gilt on each spine. Marbled endpapers, with marbled leafends. Both volumes with solid text blocks, solid hinges. Light wear to corners and lower tips of the spine. Complete with forty-two full-page plates, and a world map of the voyage, all in fine condition. Includes twenty-one plates in Volume I, and twenty-one in Volume II. With 800 engravings in total. An attractive example. After completing his second term as president, Grant embarked on a two-year tour with his wife, Julia. Their itinerary took them across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. When they returned to the United States, the Grants stopped in Yosemite Valley, Utah Territory, and Nebraska before arriving in Chicago. John Russell Young, the book's author, was a journalist and writer invited to accompany the Grants on their journey. While in China, Young formed a friendship with the Qing statesman Li Hongzhang, a relationship that impressed Grant and later led him to recommend Young to President Chester A. Arthur for a diplomatic post in China.