The pageant of Peking:

Shanghai (China): A.S.Watson, 1920-[1921]. Folio. leaves [iv], 40 pages plus 66 tipped in Vandyck photogravures of Peking and environs. FIRST EDITION, SECOND ISSUE. Plates measure 7 ½ x 11 inches. Rubricated initials. Original blue silk cloth with Chinese cyphers, gilt lettering on front cover; silk repair to spine with slight stain in crease and on top edge of cover, still an exceptionally fine copy, complete with the original silk bookmark. From the library of Charles R. Crane, with his business card noting: “Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America.” Crane (1858-1939) was originally appointed minister to China in 1909, but before leaving was recalled to Washington where he was forced to resign by Secretary of State Philander C. Knox for his published objections to treaties between Japan and China. He later served as minister to China between 1920 and 1921. Crane was a virulent anti-Semite and an admirer of Hitler. He later founded the Institute of Current World Affairs. Item #14503

First edition, second issue, with the title page showing the 1920 first edition date, and the copyright page noting that the first (numbered) edition was published in November, 1920, and that our copy was issued in January, 1921 as a second edition (but actually a re-printing of the first edition; no other copies are located with this copyright date imprint). Mennie (1875-1941) was a Scottish photographer who worked in early twentieth century China. His marvelous images depict a record of the city, people, sights and architecture and “evoked a romantic vision of antique China, featuring shopkeepers, travelers, merchants, dusty caravans, misty villages, old palaces, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall of China” (see Worswick and Spence, Photographs of Imperial China, 1980). Mennie was proposed as a member of the Royal Geographic Society for his Grandeur of the Gorges (1926) depicting scenes along the Yangtze River.

Price: $2,500.00