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LANGDON, W. B. "Ten thousand chinese things." A descriptive catalogue of the chinese collection, now exhibiting at st. george's place, hyde park corner, london, with condensed accounts of the genius, government, history, literature, agriculture, arts, trade, manners, customs and social life of the people of the celestial empire.

London. Printed for the Proprietor, and to be obatined only at the Chinese Collection, 1842. First English edition.
8vo. 150pp. With an engraved frontispiece and a further seven engraved plates. Original publisher's blind-stamped green cloth, lettered in gilt to upper board. Rubbed and marked, corners bumped. Scattered spotting.
The first British edition of a catalogue issued to accompany an exhibition of Chinese artefacts on display at St. George's Place, Hyde Park Corner.

The exhibition, comprised primarily of items from the substantial collection of American philanthropist and pioneer of sinology Nathan Dunn (1782-1844), initially opened in Philadelphia in 1838; making it the first systematic collection of Chinese materials exhibited publicly in the United States. Though attendance was healthy, financial loss encouraged Dunn to relocate the exhibition to London in in 1842. Dunn, an opponent of the opium wars, apparently believed that his collection, by acquainting the British public with Chinese culture, would influence opinion against the opium trade. Following his untimely death in 1844, curator William B. Langdon took the collection on tour in an effort to raise funds to meet the demands of Dunn's extravagant will. The later whereabouts of the collection are unknown; a portion was lost during a train wreck on the outskirts of Edinburgh in 1842, and at least a handful of artefacts were purchased and displayed by P. T. Barham until auctioned in 1851.
£ 375.00 Antiquates Ref: 23235