Thomson (John)

Illustrations of China and Its People,

2 of 4 vol., first edition, 48 photographic plates, tissue-guards, 1 with a tear, letterpress descriptions interleaved, original decorative cloth, lacking decorative gilt spines, gilt, a.e.g., internally fine, worn and rubbed at edges, [Cordier I, 94], folio, Sampson, Low, 1873

*** John Thomson (1837-1921) was a pioneering Scottish photographer, who was one of the first known photographers to travel to the Far East. He settled in Hong Kong in 1868 and established a studio in the Commercial Bank building, spending the next four years travelling extensively. Between 1870 and 1872 Thomson "undertook four distinct journeys, up the north branch of the Pearl River, up the River Min to the area around Foochow (Fuzhou), to Peking (Beijing), and finally up the great Yangtze (Yangzi) River. The photographs taken on these journeys form one of the most extensive photographic surveys of any region taken in the nineteenth century. The range and depth of his photographic vision mark Thomson out as one of the most important travel photographers" (ODNB). He visited various remote and almost unpopulated regions, where many of the people he encountered had never seen a Westerner before, let alone a camera.