PBA Galleries

[2], 688 pp. 22.5x13.5 cm (8¾x5½"), modern half leather and cloth.

Significant record of official dispatches and correspondence of Robert M. McLane and Peter Parker, commissioners of the United States to China, with the Department of State. The great majority was from 1854, a seminal time in the evolution of relations between the United States and China, coming on the heels of  the Perry expedition to Japan (with stops at China and elsewhere on the way), and an increasingly internationalist mindset following the successes of the Mexican-American War. Present in the reports and correspondence are excellent observations and descriptions of life and society in 1850s China, including the Emperor's activities, Chinese prostitutes, etc.