Chinese History and Culture
Yu Lan Flying Boy of China
New York; (1945): The John Day Co. First Edition. 60 pages, Illustrated by George T. Hartman. An uncommon work of Pearl Buck's. This is the story of a small Chinese boy who saw air planes of the Japanese but one lucky day an American pilot made an emergency landing close..... More
The Unveiling of Lhasa, with Illustrations and Map
London: Arnoldo Mondadori, 1905. First Edition. Octavo. Third impression. xvi, 304 pages, folded map, plates. Two things are of quite diverse interest regarding this scarce volume. First, the 1903-1904 British campaign in Tibet where they entered the "Forbidden City" which had not been approached by the Britons in nearly a...... More
Burma; the Untold Story
(Novato, California, 1986): Presidio Press. Octavo. 138pp., illustrated. Warmly inscribed to Judge Thomas Tang: "with respect and the warmest of friendship. Won-Loy Chan, San Mateo, CA December 1896." The extraordinary personal memoir of a combat intelligence officer on the staff of General Joseph W (Vinegar Joe) Stillwell. As a Chinese..... More
Philips' Commercial Map of China
George Philip & Son, LTD. London, 1922. Quarto. The large map edited by Sir Alexander Hosie (1853-1925) whose service for Britain was in many of the provinces of China. He travelled in the most remote dangerous places where brigands and disease took the lives of missionaries, adventurers, and trade officials..... More
Mi Fu on Ink-Stones
Peking: H. Vetch, 1938. First Edition. Octavo. vii, 70 pages. Translated by R.H. Van Gulik with an introduction and notes. Bibliographical list of abbreviation. This rare monograph appeared in a small print run in 1938 and was published in China. Mi Fu (or Mi Fei) was the celebrated Sung painter..... More
A Son of China
New York; (1930): W.W. Norton and Co. First Edition. Octavo. 286 pages. Translation of Vers l'kunited and Ma mere et moil. This work is not only autobiographical but it deals with the 1916 Chinese Revolution and his research in Paris. Mr. Cheng Shenkg was professor of comparative sericulture at the..... More
Reminiscences of an Ancient Strategist; the Mind of Sun Tzu
(Hampshire, England; 1997): Gower Publishing. Octavo. 535 pages. Illustrated by Peggy Leong. Dr. Foo Check Teck has taken his extensive studies of Sun Tzu's The Art of War and treats how each idea in the original was developed. The work was originally written over 2,500 years ago and yet today..... More
No Secret is Safe Behind the Bamboo Curtain (signed in English and Chinese)
New York; (1952): Farrar, Straus and Giroux. First Edition. Octavo. x-202 pages. Inscribed by the author "To my dear uncle Martin Schwarzschil/ Loving memory /Hartwig Derenbourg" and with his uncle's bookplate. French text. One of the most important primary sources in translation of the author, Usamai ibn Munqid, who was..... More
The Landscape Painting of China; Musings of a Journeyman (edited By Roger E. Covey)
Gainesville; (2014): University Press of Florida. First Edition. Quarto. 342 pages, illustrated and index. Vanderstappen sets out his basic assumptions about Chinese landscape painting based in part on early texts. Nature is both tiandi and ziran; it is the painter's task to absorb the outward appearance (tiandi) and then proceed..... More
The Li Sao, an Elegy on Encountering Sorrows Prefaces By H.A. Giles, Rabindranath Tagore; Chen Huan-chang
Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1935. Octavo. XI, 225 Pages, 4 leaves of plates; illustrations, facsmile, folded map. Li Sao (Lisso) is seen as the authentic work of Qu Yuan. The poem is considered to be an encoded self-portrait of the poet who, as minsiter of King Huai of Chu (reigned 328-299..... More