China, in a Series of Views, Displaying The Scenery, Architecture, and Social Habits of that Ancient Empire

ALLOM, Thomas [Illustrator].

China, in a Series of Views, Displaying The Scenery, Architecture, and Social Habits of that Ancient Empire

London: Fisher, Son, & Co , c. 1843.

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First Edition of China; illustrated by Thomas Allom

First edition of this 19th-century illustrated travelogue aimed at presenting Qing-era China to a Western audience. Quarto, two volumes, elaborately bound in full morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, triple gilt ruling and elaborate central gilt vignette with botanical scrolling to the front and rear panels, all edges gilt, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, title vignettes, marbled endpapers. Illustrated with 127 steel engraved plates from drawings by Thomas Allom. Historical and descriptive notes by George Newenham Wright. In very good condition with splitting to the front hinge and archival repairs to the first four pages of volume one and lacking first plate.

Thomas Allom (1804–1872) was a prominent British illustrator, architect, and topographical artist known for his detailed engravings of landscapes and urban scenes in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. His work, particularly in volumes such as China Illustrated and Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, exemplifies the 19th-century British tradition of visual orientalism, blending architectural precision with romanticized depictions of foreign locales. China, in a Series of Views, Displaying the Scenery, Architecture, and Social Habits of that Ancient Empire, is a landmark example of 19th-century British visual and literary orientalism. Published in multiple volumes beginning in the 1840s, the work presents a richly detailed and often romanticized portrayal of Qing-era China through finely engraved illustrations. Allom’s images—ranging from sweeping landscapes to urban scenes and depictions of daily life—reflect both a fascination with the exotic and a desire to make distant cultures accessible to a Western audience.