East of Suez: Ceylon, India, China and Japan (1907, first edition)
With the bookplate of Herbert G Squires, and rebound in half-leather by Henry Sotheran of London
Author
Publisher
Printing Details
First edition. Bound in half-leather by Henry Sotheran, London, with five raised bands and gilt titling to spine. Top edge gilt. 21 × 14.5cm, xvii +349pp.
This copy with the bookplate of Herbert G Squires to the front pastedown. Herbert Goldsmith Squiers (1859–1911) was a distinguished American diplomat and military officer. He served as the Secretary of the American Legation in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion when the foreign legations were besieged for 55 days and Squiers effectively became the Chief of Staff for the international defence forces. This was followed by posts as Minister to Cuba (1902–1905) and Minister to Panama (1906–1909).
Penfield's travels east of Suez in which he looks at the tea and pearl industries in Colombo and Ceylon, there is a large section on the British Raj (India) as Penfield was fascinating by the sheer scale of the British administration and he notes the growing undercurrents of local unrest. Then China, he visited seven years after the Boxer Rebellion, and compares Old China and New China, and finally on to Japan where he notes the rapid modernization and its emergence as a world power following its victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1905).
Condition
This copy is in very good condition. There is a little sunning to the top edge of the boards and some minor spotting and tanning to the pages but otherwise a secure copy. All plates present.
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Price
£50.00
