Relation de l'Expédition de Chine en 1860.
Rédigée au Dépôt de la Guerre d'aprés les documents officiels sous le Ministère De S.E. le Maréchal Comte Randon étant Directeur le Général Blondel. Paris Imprimerie Impériale 1862
First edition, 4to, pp. [ii, titles], 202, tables. A very good copy in contemporary quarter calf, re-backed with original gilt spine laid down, marbled boards, end-papers and page edges, green bookmark ribbon.
Copac claims only British Library and King's College London have copies
A rare account of the Anglo-French expedition in the later stages of the Second Opium War that resulted in the Third Battle of Taku Forts and which opened the river routes up to Peking, and led China to cede 22 forts as far as Tianjin. It also records the inclusion of Chinese labourers on the side of the French. Antoine Lucien Blondel (1801-1883) was a military geographer who rose, in 1851, to be head of the Dépôt de la Guerre, where he remained until 1867. His experience means this present work is particularly topographically detailed and interesting. Jacques Louis César Alexandre Randon (1795-1871) joined the French army at just 16, and rose to become Minister of War from 1859 to 1867. As one of his first actions he oversaw the offensives in China. The accompanying Atlas published in the same year as this is not present.