I have here for sale a RARE large b/w plate showing A CHART OF THE ISLANDS TO THE SOUTHWARD OF TCHU-SAN ON THE EASTERN COAST OF CHINA generally laid down from one published by Alexander Dalrymple Esq with additions and alterations, drawn by R Barrow.  It was one of the plates included in Staunton's An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China published in 1796 by George Nicol.  At the bottom it also has two smaller images, one with a view of the harbour of Tchu san from the anchorage of the Clarence; and the other is a Sketch by Compass of part of the Island of Tchu-San, the harbour and part of Tea Island.  

Lord Macartney was the first British ambassador to China, arriving in 1793 and ordered to leave the same year. However in the short time the embassy was in the country much was learned about China, and the groundwork was laid for the founding of Hong Kong less than fifty years later. Macartney was dispatched to Beijing in 1792, traveling via Madeira, Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro, the Cape of Good Hope and Indonesia. He was accompanied by Staunton, and a retinue of suitably impressive size, including Staunton’s 11-year-old son who was nominally the ambassador’s page. On the embassy’s arrival in China it emerged that the 11-year-old was the only European member of the embassy able to speak Mandarin, and thus the only one able to converse with the Emperor. The embassy, the first such to China, had two objectives: the first to register with the Emperor, British displeasure at the treatment that the British merchants were receiving from the Chinese, the second to gain permission for a British minister to be resident in China.  The first objective was achieved, the second was not. Macartney was twice granted an audience with the Emperor and in December 1793 he was sumptuously entertained by the Chinese viceroy in Canton, and returned to England via Macao and St. Helena, arriving in September 1794.  This important text produced some of the earliest accurate maps of the interior of China and provided many invaluable geographical and cultural observations.

In good condition but there is staining and foxing to the borders.  Small section of the border missing at the bottom left corner where it has been cut out of the book.  Small fold to the bottom edge where it was folded to fit in the book.  57 x 40 cm.

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