Parker, Edward Harper Up the Yang-Tse. (Reprinted from the 'China Review'.) With sketch maps. Hong Kong printed at the 'China Mail' Office 1891
First edition in book form. 8vo (22 x 14.5 cm), pp.[iv], 308, vi (index), 8 maps, 7 folding. With printed Chinese characters in text. A very good copy bound in later half calf, marbled boards. First map torn at fold, without loss. Several pencil corrections to text.

A fascinating description of a young British interpreter's travels in China in the 1880s, principally along the Yangtze and Jialing rivers but also extensively overland in Sichuan and its neighbouring provinces. His descriptions are detailed and practical, focusing on travel costs, commercial data, and local industry, including the struggling photographic studio of a Chinese Christian in Hoh Chou (modern Linxia City) in Gansu and the abundant salt wells of Sichuan. He provides sailing instructions to the Yangtze with 360 individual notes. The text includes a vocabulary of the colloquial terms employed by Yangtze pilots, a three-page Miao-English vocabulary, and a four-page list of Sichuan plants, giving Latin names and equivalents in Chinese characters. Edward Harper Parker (1849-1926), barrister and Sinologist, served as an interpreter to the British consulates in China. He retired from consular service to England in 1896.