Opmaak 1 - Gert Jan Bestebreurtje

8 BARROW, John. Reizen in China, inhoudende: beschrijvingen, aanmerkingen
en vergelijkingen gemaakt en verzameld, geduurende het verblijf in het keizerlijk
paleis, van Yuen-min en in eene daar op gevolgde reis door het land van Pekin tot
Canton .. Uit het Engelsch. Haarlem, François Bohn, 1807-09.
3 volumes. Original boards (spines damaged but holding). With 2 hand-coloured portraits,
6 engravings with musical scores and 9 engraved plates (6 folding) after
William Alexander by L. Portman and D. Veelwaard. VIII,288; VI,334; VI,341 pp.
€ 675,00
First Dutch edition. - Account of the famous embassy under Lord Macartney (1737-
1806) to China with John Barrow (1764-1848) as his private secretary. The embassy
(1792-1794) collected much information, but permission to have a British minister
resident in China was declined. 'Barrow was an excellent observer' (Hill 62). - Rare
Dutch edition.
Cordier, B.S., p.2390; Lust 365 (English ed.); not in Tiele or Cat. NHSM.
9 BARROW, John. Travels in China, containing descriptions, observations, and
comparisons, made and collected in the course of a short residence at the imperial
palace of Yuen-Min-Yuen, and on a subsequent journey through the country from
Pekin to Canton .. 2nd edition. London, T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1806.
4to. Contemporary calf with blind stamped borders, rebacked with the original spine
laid down, spine gilt with black morocco title-label (new endpapers). With coloured
frontispiece portrait, 3 plates (2 double-page), 4 coloured aquatint plates and 6 lvs of
music. X,632 pp. € 1.950,00
John Barrow (1764-1848) accompanied Lord Macartney on the first British embassy
to China in 1792, later becoming his private secretary. Barrow's account of the expedition
is considered a most valuable contribution to the literature of western embassies
to China. Of special interest are the description of the Imperial Palace in Peking,
and the palace in Jehol, and also the observations on the life and character of the
Qianlong Emperor. The frontispiece by Thomas Hickey is a portrait of Van-ta-gin, the
emperor's officer, who escorted Lord Macartney to the capital. He became a most
congenial travelling companion, and learnt to shake hands and to eat with knife and
fork. William Alexander, was also in the suite of Macartney's embassy, as artist. '
One of the best illustrated English travels on China. .. The strict exclusion of
Europeans by the Chinese Emperors had left China very much terra incognita to the
western world well into the nineteenth cenury' (Hill p.23) - (Two holes title-page
rep.). - A fine clean copy with bright coloured plates after William Alexander.
Abbey, Travel, 531; Tooley, Coloured plates, 84; Cordier, BS, 2388; Lust 366;
Morrison I, 42; Hill 65. – See illustration.