Maria Thomson: Plain truths alone compose the substance
4th Feb 2024 - Rare and Early Books
Amidst the European accounts of early New Zealand, a book written by a woman stands out. Not only for its
September 24, 2024
Charles Toogood Downing was a young surgeon who visited China in the late 1830s, just before the first opium war broke out. He spent six months in the Canton region and when back in England wrote a three-volume (three- or triple-decker) work on his experience, plus writing on general information for the English reader. His book was reviewed in Canton by John Robert Morrison, son of the more famous protestant missionary Robert Morrison, and its scathing language and eagerness to find fault has all the trademarks of the resident expert nettled at someone with no China experience swanning in and becoming the instant expert. An account of the book and the review can be found here.
4th Feb 2024 - Rare and Early Books
Amidst the European accounts of early New Zealand, a book written by a woman stands out. Not only for its
5th Jun 2023 - Rare and Early Books
There has been much written about Robert Fortune, the mid-19th Century plant collector travelling in China and Japan. He was