[CHINA]
WRIGHT, G.[EORGE] N.[EWENHAM]. China, in a Series of Views Displaying the Scenery, Architecture, and Social Habits of that Ancient Empire. London: Fisher, Son. & Co., [1843]. Four volumes bound as two, nineteenth-century purple calf gilt, all edges gilt. 10 1/4 x 8 inches (26 x 20 cm): engraved title, [4], 72, 96 pp., with 32 engraved plates (including title vignette); engraved title, [4], 72 pp., with 32 engraved plates (including title vignette); engraved title, [4], 68 pp., with 32 engraved plates (including title vignette); engraved title, [4], 56 pp., with 32 engraved plates (including title vignette). The plates were engraved by J.C. Bentley after Thomas Allom's sketches, all plates with protective tissues. Spines dry, flaking, joints weak, internally occasional minor foxing but internally generally a clean copy.
Issued just after the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, at a time when there was a great deal of interest in China, this work has superb steel engravings after Thomas Allom's sketches. Lust 363; Cordier Sinica 80-8.1