China.- Staunton (Sir George) An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China, 3 vol. including Atlas, first edition, text with 2 engraved portrait frontispieces, engraved plate of Camellia and 26 engraved vignettes, frontispieces lightly offset, vol. 2 with light water-staining to first few ff. and occasionally to upper-margin elsewhere, occasional light browning and foxing, Atlas with 44 engraved maps, charts, plates and plans, of which one folding and 6 double-page, a few mounted on stubs, folding map with short tear into image without loss, few other very short marginal tears, occasional light surface soiling or toning, but overall a good and clean copy, text vol. in attractive contemporary straight-grain blue morocco, some very subtle repairs to spine ends and joints, few scratches to vol. 1 upper cover, slightly faded in places, little rubbed and scuffed, g.e., Atlas bound to style in modern straight-grain blue half morocco over marbled boards, spines gilt, [Cordier, Sinica, 2381-83], 4to & folio, W. Bulmer & Co. for G. Nicol, 1797.

⁂ The official account of Lord Macartney's voyage and embassy to the Qianlong emperor in 1792-94, the failure of which led to the establishment of the British trading post at Hong Kong. It includes descriptions of the journey via Madeira, Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro, Java and Sumatra, Chinese customs (including foot-binding) and details of Chinese trade with Europe. The fine plates by Alexander show views of the Great Wall, temples, barges, a military post and imperial procession.