Henry T. Prinsep (1792 1878) was the son of a prominent East India Company servant, and like his father, he spent much of his life in the East. He left Britain for Calcutta in 1809, at the age of seventeen, and stayed in India, working in a variety of roles, until his retirement in 1843. He wrote a number of books about India: in this work, published in 1851, he turns to the north of the subcontinent. Prinsep draws from travel narratives of the few explorers who had been to this territory which corresponds to today's western China and Mongolia to illustrate the lives of the people there....
Henry T. Prinsep (1792 1878) was the son of a prominent East India Company servant, and like his father, he spent much of his life in the East. He lef...
In 1800 Lord Wellesley, the British Governor General of India, appointed the surgeon and botanist Francis Buchanan (1762 1829) to conduct a survey of the kingdom of Mysore in the south of the country, which had recently been annexed by the East India Company. In the resulting three-volume report, first published in 1807, Buchanan (later known as Francis Hamilton) records the physical and human geography of this large area of southern India. He describes the agriculture, arts and commerce, indigenous religions and customs, natural history and society and antiquities of the regions through...
In 1800 Lord Wellesley, the British Governor General of India, appointed the surgeon and botanist Francis Buchanan (1762 1829) to conduct a survey of ...
First published in French in Philadelphia in 1797 and translated into English for the London edition of 1798 reissued here, this travelogue by Andre Everard van Braam Houckgeest (1739 1801) was received with enthusiasm by readers hungry for exotic accounts of distant lands. It vividly describes a visit to the Chinese imperial court by a delegation from the Dutch East India Company soon after the British Macartney embassy, and delivers a rare glimpse of an unfamiliar landscape and culture. Fascinated by his experiences, van Braam records that he thought it 'far better to lose a few hours rest,...
First published in French in Philadelphia in 1797 and translated into English for the London edition of 1798 reissued here, this travelogue by Andre E...
The introduction, during the Middle Ages, of a representative system into English political life, was an event of great historical significance, and has since been central to academic debate. Written by Ludwig Riess (1861 1928), an eminent twentieth-century historian, this pioneering account of the medieval English electorate profoundly influenced the study of English constitutional history, as it questioned the fundamental assumptions of the scholarship that preceded it. First published in German in 1885, it critically evaluated the aims of the elected representatives, and re-assessed the...
The introduction, during the Middle Ages, of a representative system into English political life, was an event of great historical significance, and h...
Recruited straight from university, Ernest Satow (1843 1929) became one of the most respected British diplomats, particularly in Japan, where he is still remembered. After a career spent mostly in the rapidly developing Far East, he retired in 1906. Just before the outbreak of war, he was asked to compile a work on international diplomacy, and 'Satow', as it has become known, was first published in 1917, and in updated versions has not been out of print since. Satow's work was pioneering, there being at that time no comprehensive study in English of diplomacy. Volume 1 covers the history of...
Recruited straight from university, Ernest Satow (1843 1929) became one of the most respected British diplomats, particularly in Japan, where he is st...
Recruited straight from university, Ernest Satow (1843 1929) became one of the most respected British diplomats, particularly in Japan, where he is still remembered. After a career spent mostly in the rapidly developing Far East, he retired in 1906. Just before the outbreak of war, he was asked to compile a work on international diplomacy, and 'Satow', as it has become known, was first published in 1917, and in updated versions has not been out of print since. Satow's work was pioneering, there being at that time no comprehensive study in English of diplomacy. Volume 2 concentrates on...
Recruited straight from university, Ernest Satow (1843 1929) became one of the most respected British diplomats, particularly in Japan, where he is st...
George Smith (1833 1919) published this biography in 1885. Carey (1761 1834), a key figure in the nineteenth-century Protestant missionary movement and founding member of the Baptist Missionary Society, lived and worked as a missionary in India from 1793 till his death 41 years later. The biography is based on Carey's unpublished letters, personal papers, missionary records and the recollections of Carey's friends and colleagues in India. It focuses on Carey's educational work; his involvement in India's agriculture; the mission centres he established throughout India; and his translations of...
George Smith (1833 1919) published this biography in 1885. Carey (1761 1834), a key figure in the nineteenth-century Protestant missionary movement an...
Piracy on the coast of China in the nineteenth century inflicted chaos and serious economic damage, with large mobs of bandits attacking coastal villages as well as wreaking havoc at sea. Yung-lun Yuan's account of this period, published in Chinese in 1830 and in English in 1831, is a colourful depiction of the pirate scourge. Interwoven with the narratives of the pirates themselves as well as those of the courageous civilians who resisted them, the text describes the organisation and rules of the pirates as well as the authorities' attempts to broker peace. Also included is Sir John...
Piracy on the coast of China in the nineteenth century inflicted chaos and serious economic damage, with large mobs of bandits attacking coastal villa...
Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874 1938) was a colonial administrator and scholar with a lifelong fascination with China who was appointed tutor to the young Puyi (1906 1967), who became emperor at the age of two. Johnston was highly favoured by the emperor, receiving several imperial titles and residing in the Forbidden City. His account of his time as Puyi's tutor, Twilight in the Forbidden City, also reissued in this series, was dramatised in the film The Last Emperor. Previously, Johnston had served in a variety of colonial service positions, including three years as commissioner of the...
Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874 1938) was a colonial administrator and scholar with a lifelong fascination with China who was appointed tutor to t...
