[PHOTOGRAPHY]. [CHINA]. THOMSON, J[ohn] (1837-1921). Illustrations of China and Its People. A Series of Two Hundred Photographs with Letterpress Descriptive of the Places and People Represented. In Four Volumes. London: Samson Low, Marson, Low, and Searle, 1873-1874. Large folios. Illustrated with 218 photographs in 96 plates, printed as collotypes. Four volumes. Publisher's full brownish-purple morocco-grain cloth, front boards decoratively stamped in gilt, rear boards decoratively stamped in blind, dark green coated endleaves. FIRST EDITION OF THIS EXCEEDINGLY RARE SET OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY CHINA, SELDOM FOUND COMPLETE. 

"My design in the accompanying work is to present a series of pictures of China and its people, such as shall convey an accurate impression of the country I traversed as well as the arts, usages, and manners which prevail in different provinces of the Empire. With this intention I made the camera the constant companion of my wanderings, and to it I am indebted for the faithful representation of the scenes I visited and the types of races I came into contact..." (Thomson's Introduction). Thomson created the most comprehensive and engaging photographic record of China of the latter nineteenth-century. He had "... an ethnographic and journalistic turn of mind, impeccable technique, original vision, and an admirable sense of composition..." (Heilbrun, Around the World: Explorers, Travelers, and Tourists 164).

Spines perished, bindings worn, soiled, joints and hinges cracking, title-page of volume I detached (yet present), title-page of volume II a bit loose, text leaves generally toned, thumbsoiled, and edgeworn, several gutters cracking or overopened, photographic leaves generally clean. Still, good.