BISHOP, Isabella Lucy ( née BIRD). The Yangtze Valley and Beyond. An Account of Journeys in China, Chiefly in the Province of Sze Chuan and Among the Man-Tze of the Somo Territory.

BISHOP, Isabella Lucy ( née BIRD). The Yangtze Valley and Beyond. An Account of Journeys in China, Chiefly in the Province of Sze Chuan and Among the Man-Tze of the Somo Territory.Isabella bishop's last book: "the most remarkable of her journeys" BISHOP, Isabella Lucy (ne BIRD). The Yangtze Valley and Beyond. An Account of Journeys in China, Chiefly in the Province of Sze Chuan and Among the Man Tze of the Somo Territory. New York, Putnam, and London: John Murray. 1900. Two volumes, 8vo. Original publisher's blue pictorial gilt stamped cloth, lettered and gilt, top edges gilt; pp. xii, [2], 410, [2, advertisements]; [2], vii,

Isabella bishop's last book: "the most remarkable of her journeys"

BISHOP, Isabella Lucy (née BIRD). The Yangtze Valley and Beyond. An Account of Journeys in China, Chiefly in the Province of Sze Chuan and Among the Man-Tze of the Somo Territory. New York, Putnam, and London: John Murray. 1900.

Two volumes, 8vo. Original publisher's blue pictorial gilt-stamped cloth, lettered and gilt, top edges gilt; pp. xii, [2], 410, [2, advertisements]; [2], vii, [2], 305, [2, advertisements]; photographic frontispieces with tissue guards, photographic illustrations in the text several full-page, after Bishop et al., one colour-printed folding lithographic map with the author's route in red; minimal rubbing to extremities, a very good copy.

First two-volume edition, after the UK one-volume edition of the previous year.

On 10 January 1896, the 64-year-old Isabella Bishop left the Shanghai Consulate aboard the Poyang on an 8,000 mile round trip via the upper reaches of the Yangzte river. The journey, continued after the first 1,000 miles by means of native boats and overland from Wan-Hsien, proved full of incident, and Bird's narrative offers first-hand details of regions that remain of interest. The penultimate chapter is devoted to the opium poppy and its use. 'At all times the beautiful Papaver somniferum has been regarded as the enemy of China. There are no apologists for the use of opium except among foreigners' (vol. I. p. 295). Although The Yangtze Valley and Beyond was Isabella Bishop's last book, 'it recounted the most remarkable of her journeys' (ODNB).

Cordier, Sinica col. 355; Theakstone p. 23; Wayward Women p. 82; Yakushi (3rd ed.) B-382.

SKU: 2121415