AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF AN EMBASSY FROM THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN TO

1797. STAUNTON, Sir George. AN AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF AN EMBASSY FROM THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN... Together with a relation of the voyage undertaken on the occasion by His Majesty's ship the Lion, and the ship Hindostan, in the East India Company's service, to the Yellow Sea, and Gulf of Pekin; as well as of their return to Europe; with notices of the several places where they stopped in their way out and home ... Taken chiefly from the papers of His Excellency the the Earl of Macartney ...; Sir Erasmus Gower ..., and of other Gentlemen in the several departments of the Embassy. In Three Volumes. London: Printed for G. Nicol, 1797. First octavo edition, complete as issued in 3 volumes with 3 large fold-out maps engraved by B. Baker. Pp. xvi,429; xv,383; xvii,490 + [1] foldout leaf ('Appendix VII') inserted after p. 486. Worn contemporary bindings of diced calf with gilt lettering on spine: spines are darkened, joints are starting and/or split, and the leather is pulling away from the boards, with some rippling, creasing, and chipping. The blue endpapers have lifted in places revealing early 19th-century advertisements (for new medicine, surgery, and chemistry titles from the publisher Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme) that were used as lining. Bookblocks are sound and text leaves are clean but for some scant, light foxing and a couple of gatherings whose paper has toned. Bookplate on ffep in each volume. Folding frontispiece map in each volume: 1. 'A General Chart on Mercator's Projection, to show the train of the Lion and Hindostan from England to the Gulf of Pekin in Chiana, and of the their return to England.' 42.5 x 62.5 cm. 2. 'A Sketch of a Journey from ZHE-HOL in TARTARY by land to PEKIN and from thence by water to HANG-TCHOO-FOO in CHINA,' by J. Barrow. 67 X 47.5 cm. Closed tear with an old paper repair on verso. 3. 'Sketch of a Journey from HANG-TCHOO-FOO to QUANG-TCHOO-FOO of CANTON in CHINA,' by J. Barrow. 65 x 46.5 cm. Two small closed tears mended on verso. (This edition, published in the same year and by the same publisher as the first two-volume quarto edition with the separate folio atlas of plates which was prepared at Government expense, is complete with only three maps as offered here.) Although Macartney's embassy to install a resident British minister and establish trade relations with China was not successful, it collected much interesting inform.