Description

48 HAND-COLORED AQUATINTS OF 18TH-CENTURY CHINESE LIFE, BEAUTIFULLY BOUND IN FULL STRAIGHT-GRAIN MOROCCO-GILT

ALEXANDER, William. The Costume of China. London, 1805. Quarto, late 19th-century full straight-grain green morocco gilt.

First edition in book form of this exquisite collection of 48 hand-colored aquatint images of Chinese manners and customs at the end of the 18th century, with sepia aquatint dedication page, beautifully bound in full straight-grain morocco-gilt.

At the close of the 18th century, England was “anxious to establish formal diplomatic relations with China and thus open the way for unimpeded trade relations. But the pall of Chinese reserve and self-sufficiency, which for many centuries seldom admitted penetration, still hung over this empire” (Cox I, 344). In 1792, a mission to Beijing was led by Lord Macartney, designed to establish diplomatic relations, but the Chinese “effectually resisted Macartney’s arguments and gifts… His visit was not in vain, however, for it gave us a most interesting account of Chinese manners and customs” (Cox). Artist William Alexander was the junior draughtsman in Lord Macartney’s entourage. All of the official drawings of the expedition were Alexander’s work, executed mainly in watercolors, some of which were first published (uncolored) in George Staunton’s official Account of an Embassy to the Emperor of China (1797) and later reproduced by lithography for Bazin de Malpière’s La Chine: Moeurs, Usages, Costumes (1824-27). This splendid first aquatint edition of Alexander’s watercolors show him as “an excellent draughtsman, and his illustrations are of considerable value” (Prideaux, 250). With half title and without list of subscribers. Possibly preceded by an edition in parts as suggested by the imprints and stated by Cordier, but, according to Abbey, no such edition has ever been seen. Abbey Travel 534. Tooley 18. Lust 1118. Colas 74. Hiler, 16. Booklabel. Without corner of Chow-ta-zhin plate not affecting image, offsetting from plates to text, a few scattered spots of foxing and soiling, binding very lovely. A near-fine copy.