An Aide-de-Camp’s Recollections of Service in China

Cunynghame, Arthur

An Aide-de-Camp's Recollections of Service in China, a Residence in Hong-Kong, and visits to other islands in the Chinese seas.

London, Saunders and Otley. 1844, 2 volumes, First Editions. Binding is the original publisher's Duck-Egg Blocked Cloth. 8vo., pp. xi, [1], 311, [1]; viii, 332, [8]. Aquatint frontispiece in both volumes, and 7 aquatint plates and 15 line illustrations in the text. Several of the plates have spotting (mostly in the margins). The volume 1 frontispiece has a small damp stain. The upper boards have a pictorial in gilt, and the spines are lettered in gilt. The covers are a little soiled with a few marks and are sunned along the spines. The corners are lightly bumped. The text block is clean and bright aside from the spotting on the frontispieces and several plates. A good + sound set, seldom at auction (auction records show only 1 copy in 1974), and uncommon in the original cloth.

A first edition of Cunynghame's account of his service in China and Hong Kong. The first volume describes his journey out, which took him via Rio de Janeiro, Singapore and Hong Kong; the second is concerned with his travels in China. The narrative describes his time as Aide-de-Camp to Lord Saltoun during and after the First Opium War. The Recollections also cover Cunynghame's experiences and his detailed descriptions of China and Hong Kong, and his later travels to the Canary Islands, Brazil and Suez.