Paris: Adrien le Clere, 1853. Second edition. Two volumes, 12mo. pp 440; (iv), 318. Folding map at front of volume I. Half titles present. Bound in contemporary (publishers?) full marbled sheep, spines with two red labels and gilt decoration, marbled page edges, marbled endpapers. Shallow chips at spine ends; some rubbing and a bit of peeling to the patterned surface; cracked joints of volume II neatly repaired; ink owner name in top margin of each title page; 8 cm closed tear to right hand side of map neatly repaired on blank side with clear archival paper tape (no paper loss); bit of flaking to gilt spine ornamentation; cracked inner hinges skillfully repaired with rice paper; else a VG pair, sound in the bindings; text quite clean and unworn. Huc was a French Lazarist missionary who went out to China in 1839. He stayed in Macao 18 months, then made his way to Peking and eventually to He Shuy, just inside the Mogolian border, where he devoted himself to learning the language and customs of the Tartars. At the urging of the vicar apostolic of Mongolia, he set out on an expedition to Tibet in 1844. After much suffering and crossing the punishing Ordos Desert, his party reached the Tibet border in Jan., 1845, where he stayed for a few months at the famous Kunbum Lamasery where he studied Tibetan and Buddhism. The party eventually reached Lhasa 19 Jan., 1846, but Chinese authorities ordered him to Canton in Oct., 1846, where he remained for nearly 3 years before returning to Europe in shattered health in 1852. The present book was famous in its day and was translated into English by William Hazlitt in 1851. "[Huc's] works are written in a lucid, racy, picturesque style, which secured for them an unusual degree of popularity. The SOUVENIRS is a narrative of a remarkable feat of travel, and contains passages of so singular a character as in the absence of corroborative testimony to stir up a feeling of incredulity. That Huc was suspected unjustly was amply proved by later research. But he was by no means a practical geographer, and the record of his travels loses greatly in value from the want of precise scientific data." - EB, 11th edition. This second edition was re-set, but with few textual changes from the 1850 first edition.

London: Edward Arnold. Blue pictorial cloth stamped in gilt. pp xii, 324, 16 (Dec. 1905 catalogue) + frontispiece with tissue guard and 31 other plates containing 56 photos. Spine very lightly darkened; ink private owner name and armorial bookplate at front; page edges yellowed, else a fine, bright & tight copy. >>> Brigadier-General Cecil Godfrey Rawling, CMG, CIE, DSO, FRGS...was a British soldier, explorer and author whose expeditions to Tibet and Dutch New Guinea brought acclaim from the Royal Geographic Society and awards from the Dutch and Indian governments. He published two books detailing his experiences and served in the British Army on the North-West Frontier of India and in France during the First World War. It was during this latter service that he was killed in action aged 47 during the Battle of Passchendaele....In 1903 he reentered Tibet to begin a professional survey although without official sanction, and in the following year Captain Rawling was attached to the British expedition to Tibet, charged with exploring and surveying the mountainous terrain. During the diplomatic expedition and the campaign which followed it, Rawling surveyed over 40,000 square miles (100,000 km2) of Tibet in addition to his military duties. His team even explored the foothills of Everest and included parts of the mountain in his survey, establishing it as the highest mountain in the Himalayas. It is said that had his seniors on the expedition not forbidden it, he would have become the first white man to attempt to climb the mountain from the north face. He was also the first person to successfully identify the source of the river Brahmaputra after a lengthy and hazardous journey across the war zone. Upon his return to England, Rawling received numerous accolades, including a CIE from the Indian government and in 1909 was awarded the Murchison Bequest of the Royal Geographic Society in London, of which he was a fellow." - Wikipedia. A nice copy of an important book. 1.5 kg; Octavo

The Montreal Chinese Students Association, 1932. Octavo, 52 pp. Map in text. Ex library, rebound in brown buckram. Library stamp on front free endpaper, blank leaf at front, and title page, all over-stamped "Annulé". Ink shelf marks on title page. This is the first work of five bound together. Four of the five titles are written in ink on the rear free endpaper, and there is a pouch on the rear pastetown. The second title is: WOOD, L. Hollingsworth, Chairman, Frederic C. Howe, Vice-Chairman, Jane Addams, US Senator George W. Norris, Rev. Norman Thomas, and others, Commissioners. THE AMERICAN COMMISSION ON CONDITIONS IN IRELAND: INTERIM REPORT. No place, no date [Washington, D.C.: The Commission, 1921]. pp (viii), 144 + folding map at front. Photos in text, Index. Montreal library rubber stamp on title page. The third title is: THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CITY OF BARRE, VERMONT, for the year ending December 31, 1927. Barre: Granite City Press, 1927. pp 143, [1], 19 (Resolutions adopted). The fourth title is: THIRTY-SIXH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CATHOLIC SAILORS' CLUB OF MONTREAL, for the season of 1928. [Montreal: The Club, 1929]. pp 24. Photos. The fifth title is: ATHERTON, William Henry. THE HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC SAILORS' CLUB OF MONTREAL. [Montreal: The Club, 1925]. pp 52, including photo of the club building at front, photos in text, Index, list of subscribers, Report for 1924 and list of officers for 1925. Binding and text are clean, tight and unworn, but for some pencil marks in margins of the report on Ireland. All bound without the original paper covers. The first three works have lightly toned paper. The report on Ireland "provides a fascinating account from eyewitnesses and combatants alike into some of the more notorious events of the War of Independence. These included the killing of civilians, such as the Lord Mayor of Cork as well as members of the Republican forces. The Commission also conducted investigations into the conduct of the auxiliary forces, Black and Tans, Royal Irish Constabulary and well as the regular armed forces. The Commission's Interim Report is replete with many fascinating photographs on all aspects of the conflict." - Eneclann online.