A cycle of Cathay or China, south and north

New York, Chicago, Toronto: Fleming & Revell, 1896. First edition 8vo, pp. 464; folding map, 70 (mostly) photographic illustrations on platesd and in the text; at tghe front a previous Boston owner has tipped in a color map of China with annotations showing amount of time spent in various locations; spine dull, covera a little soiled; all else very good and sound in original yellow cloth stamped in red, black and white. Martin (1827-1916) was an American Presbyterian missionary to China and translator, "famous for having translated a number of important Western treatises into Chinese ... Martin served as interpreter for the United States minister William B. Reed, in negotiating the treaty of Treaty of Tientsin in 1858 ... From 1863 till 1868, he worked at Beijing, often as official interpreter for the American Minister to China ... In 1869, Martin became president of the Tongwenguan in Beijing until 1895, and a professor of international law. He acted as an adviser of Chinese officials on questions of international law when disputes arose with European powers, notably during the conflict with France in 1884-1885. In the same year he was made a mandarin of the third class. On August 9, 1898, Martin was appointed by the Guangxu Emperor as the inaugural president of the Imperial University of Peking, the precursor of Peking University" (Wikipedia).