UNRECORDED TOUR, TO HONG KONG AND JAPAN
Round the World Eastwards In 140 Days.
[Sevenoaks].
[W. Wicking, Steam Printer], [1898].
First edition.
Oblong.
63pp, [1]. Original publisher's orange cloth, lettered in gilt to upper board, denticulated fore- and bottom-edge. A trifle rubbed and marked. Marbled endpapers, internally immaculate. Presentation copy, inked inscription to recto of FFEP: 'Miss L. K. Dixon / With the Author's love / November 1898'.
An entirely unrecorded, privately provincially printed, anonymous late nineteenth century travelogue recording a journey from London to the Far East and ultimately America.
The rollicking, spritely narrative commences with the company departing from Charing Cross railway station on 6th January, 1898, their number including Mr. J. B. Dixon, alias 'Doctor Jim, and Kathleen, alias 'Lady Kitty', the elder sister of Lottie Dixon to whom this copy is inscribed. Having taken leave of Europe, the party journey to India, via the Suez Canal, where they spend a few leisurely days in Colombo and Kandy. From there the cruise made for Singapore, where the steamer loitered for only a day, allowing for the passengers to make their acquaintance with, according to our rather Xenophobic narrator, 'John Chinaman'. A further day was spent at Saigon where the 'hot sultry air was made the more unpleasant by crowds of Chinese coolies alongside'. They arrived at Hong Kong in early March - shortly before the British would formally take possession of the New Territories in April - where they attended a grand reception at Government House. A day later they commenced passage to Japan, where they spent the best part of a month, travelling overland from Nagasaki to Kyoto, Osaka, and Yokohama; the time passed visiting a Geisha school, enduring the 'particularly offensive odour of taste' of 'Japanese eatables', and admiring cherry blossom. On 15th April they set out for Canada, from where they travelled, after a brief excursion to Toronto, by rail to New York, where the only highlight it would appear was the Waldorf Hotel and it's 'electric lift'. The White Star Liner Majestic conveyed them to Liverpool where they disembarked on 25th May having journeyed 'some 26,000 miles without a hitch'.
Only one other publication bearing the imprint of Kent-based steam printer W. Wicking is recorded, A Guide to Knole House (1892).
£ 2,500.00
Antiquates Ref: 31136
The rollicking, spritely narrative commences with the company departing from Charing Cross railway station on 6th January, 1898, their number including Mr. J. B. Dixon, alias 'Doctor Jim, and Kathleen, alias 'Lady Kitty', the elder sister of Lottie Dixon to whom this copy is inscribed. Having taken leave of Europe, the party journey to India, via the Suez Canal, where they spend a few leisurely days in Colombo and Kandy. From there the cruise made for Singapore, where the steamer loitered for only a day, allowing for the passengers to make their acquaintance with, according to our rather Xenophobic narrator, 'John Chinaman'. A further day was spent at Saigon where the 'hot sultry air was made the more unpleasant by crowds of Chinese coolies alongside'. They arrived at Hong Kong in early March - shortly before the British would formally take possession of the New Territories in April - where they attended a grand reception at Government House. A day later they commenced passage to Japan, where they spent the best part of a month, travelling overland from Nagasaki to Kyoto, Osaka, and Yokohama; the time passed visiting a Geisha school, enduring the 'particularly offensive odour of taste' of 'Japanese eatables', and admiring cherry blossom. On 15th April they set out for Canada, from where they travelled, after a brief excursion to Toronto, by rail to New York, where the only highlight it would appear was the Waldorf Hotel and it's 'electric lift'. The White Star Liner Majestic conveyed them to Liverpool where they disembarked on 25th May having journeyed 'some 26,000 miles without a hitch'.
Only one other publication bearing the imprint of Kent-based steam printer W. Wicking is recorded, A Guide to Knole House (1892).
