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Naval officer Granville Gower Loch (1813-53) adapted his journal for this 1843 publication. Containing observations on the landscape, people, customs and commerce of eastern China, as well as military and diplomatic events, it is an engaging account of the close of the First Opium War and remains valuable to scholars of Chinese history.

Taking advantage of his diplomatic privilege in Japan to travel further and inquire deeper than other foreigners, Swiss envoy Aime Humbert (1819-1900) brought back stories of life under the Tokugawa shogunate in its final years. First published in the journal Le Tour du monde in 1866, his account of Japanese history and daily life was republished as Le Japon illustre in 1870. This 1874 English translation brought readers up to date by including additional chapters on the 1868 revolution and its aftermath. Humbert focused his narrative on the history and culture of four locations: Benten, the foreign settlement at Yokohama; Kyoto, where emperors had resided for centuries; Kamakura, the old centre of political power; and Yeddo, now Tokyo, the new capital of Japan. Featuring almost 200 illustrations taken from Humbert's collection of prints and photographs, this book captures descriptively and pictorially a country on the verge of dramatic political and social change.

Jean-Baptiste-Barthelemy de Lesseps (1766-1834), a French diplomat, served as an interpreter on La Perouse's voyage around the world, which sailed from Brest in 1785. In 1787, on the eastern coast of the Kamchatka peninsula, he was tasked with an overland mission to get reports back to France as La Perouse proceeded to Australia. This two-volume work, reissued here in its English translation of 1790, is a compelling account of the one-year journey from Russia to France, and a tale of endurance and resourcefulness in the face of forbidding conditions. More than a mere journal, it also relates the author's observations on the way of life in Kamchatka, its institutions and trade. Rich in detail, the work will appeal to historians and readers with an interest in transcontinental adventure. Volume 1 covers his journey from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the north-eastern extremity of the Sea of Okhotsk.

Ending centuries of isolation, the Meiji era opened Japan to the world in the late nineteenth century, revealing a rich and sophisticated culture. Largely unknown until then, it proved an object of fascination to the West, and the delicacy of its art inspired such figures as Van Gogh, Manet, Whistler and the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. French painter Felix Elie Regamey (1844-1907) was one of the few Europeans who had travelled to Japan, and his deep respect and understanding of the country's art and customs soon established him as an expert. Appearing first in French in 1891, his observations were published in this English translation in 1893. Offering an artist's perspective on Japan and its mores, it also contains 100 illustrations drawn by the author using Japanese techniques. Readers will find much of interest in this valuable contribution to the study of Japanese culture.

In 1860, James Bruce (1811-63), the eighth Earl of Elgin, embarked upon a second embassy to China which aimed to obtain ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin and finally conclude the Second Opium War on terms favourable to the British. Accompanying Elgin as his private secretary was the enterprising army officer Henry Brougham Loch (1827-1900). Originally published in 1869, Loch's first-hand account of the mission reflects sustained concern over Britain's strained trading relationship with China in the nineteenth century. Notwithstanding his views regarding the need for European influence to shape China's future success in government, his clearly written narrative illuminates contemporary diplomacy and the events surrounding the Convention of Peking in October 1860. Prior to this outcome, Loch had been captured, imprisoned and brutally tortured by Chinese officials. His chapters detailing this experience and his eventual release are especially noteworthy.

A noted historian of Burma and a founder of the Burma Research Society, John Sydenham Furnivall (1878-1960) supported Burmese independence and freedom from colonial rule. However, he has been considered as Eurocentric and in favour of colonialism, in part because he saw it as a necessary stage in the improvement of certain societies. Stemming from a request in 1942 by the colonial government for Furnivall's views on reconstruction, this influential study was published in 1948. Using the Dutch East Indies as a case study for comparison, Furnivall assesses the effects of the different systems of colonial rule, framed within general surveys of their colonial policies and practices. The book is driven by the goal of consolidating and stabilising Burma's plural society, focusing on the importance of the welfare of the native population. Furnivall's Netherlands India (1939) has also been reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Alicia Little (1845-1926) was a prolific writer who moved to China after her marriage to missionary Archibald Little (1838-1907) in 1866. She published many accounts of Chinese culture and society before founding the successful campaign against foot-binding in 1895. This volume, first published in 1903, contains her biography of the eminent Chinese statesman Li Hung-Chang (1823-1901). Li was a towering figure in late nineteenth century Chinese political life, exerting a profound influence over Chinese foreign policy and relations and overseeing China's development of western style industrialism until his dramatic fall from power following China's defeat in the 1894 Sino-Japanese War. Using contemporary newspaper accounts, eyewitness descriptions, and interviews with his contemporaries, Little describes Li's life chronologically, describing his rise to prominence following the Taiping Rebellion in 1851. This volume was the first extensive account of Li's life to be published in English.

British academic and diplomat Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874-1938) published Twilight in the Forbidden City in 1934. The work is a memoir of Johnston's time in Beijing between 1919 and 1924, at the court of the Qing Dynasty, where he served as tutor to Aisin-Gioro Puyi (1906-1967), last emperor of China. Johnston was one of only two foreigners who were permitted to enter the imperial palace, and so his account provides a unique Western perspective on the epochal events of the period. The work has a preface by the emperor Puyi and includes detailed descriptions of palace rituals, including Puyi's wedding ceremony; translations of key documents; Johnston's perspective on the revolution of 1911 and the 1917 restoration; his observations on Chinese society as a whole; and eye-witness accounts of the political intrigues of the palace. The memoir was dramatised in Bernardo Bertolucci's cinematic masterpiece, The Last Emperor.

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 British-held territory of Weihaiwai. This book, first published in 1910, is Johnston's examination of Weihaiwei, which he considered to be a microcosm of Chinese life. Writing with obvious affection, Johnston outlines the history, culture, festivals and local folklore of Weihaiwei and explores what the future could hold for the city.

Sir George Thomas Staunton (1781-1859), sinologist and politician, was a key figure in early nineteenth-century Anglo-Chinese relations. Staunton secured a post as a writer in the East India Company's factory in Canton in 1798 and was the only Englishman at the factory to study Chinese. He translated China's penal code and was promoted to chief of the Canton factory in 1816. He was a member of Britain's Amherst embassy to Peking in 1816-1817 to protest against mandarins' treatment of Canton merchants. The embassy failed to obtain an imperial interview but, despite being threatened with detention by the Chinese, Staunton insisted that the British should not submit to the emperor. Staunton returned to England in 1817, and served as a Tory MP between 1818 and 1852. Staunton's Memoirs, which were printed privately in 1856, provide a unique insight into nineteenth-century British perceptions of China.

A classic study of the subject and one of the major works in English on Dutch colonialism in Indonesia, Furnivall's magisterial history was published on the brink of the Second World War when Dutch power was waning in the archipelago. This study traces the economic and social development of Netherlands India from the arrival of the Dutch to 1939. It illustrates the geographical, economic and social features of the colony, and how Dutch and native Indonesian inhabitants co-existed within a unique, now lost, society and culture. Furnivall (1878-1960) served as a British colonial administrator in Burma for many years, and went on to become Professor of Burmese Studies at Cambridge University. The breadth and scope of this book make it an often cited and influential book in southeast Asian studies to this day.

When he published this work in 1847, Thomas Taylor Meadows (1815-68) was the British consular interpreter at the key treaty port of Canton (Guangzhou). Including discussion of difficulties in learning Chinese, the work sheds valuable light on the bureaucracy, corruption and tension in southern China prior to the Taiping Rebellion.

The first edition of this work, which outlines China's treaty engagements with various foreign powers, was published by Sir Edward Hertslet (1824-1902) in 1896. The two-volume third edition reissued here was published by his son Godfrey in 1908, and took account of new treaties in the intervening twelve years.

The first edition of this work, which outlines China's treaty engagements with various foreign powers, was published by Sir Edward Hertslet (1824-1902) in 1896. The two-volume third edition reissued here was published by his son Godfrey in 1908, and took account of new treaties in the intervening twelve years.

A brilliant linguist, Sir Ernest Satow (1843-1929) was recruited as a student interpreter into the consular service in 1861. He was sent to Japan, where he witnessed the Tokugawa Shogunate's overthrow and the Meiji Restoration. This 1921 account is based on the diaries Satow kept whilst in Japan.

In 1860, naval officer Sherard Osborn (1822-75), a veteran of both Opium Wars, published this collection of remarks and predictions on Chinese affairs in relation to British imperial interests. Osborn seeks to explain the Chinese frame of mind to his readership, perceived as lacking sound information on the topic.

Invited to advise on Japan's naval expansion, Sir Edward Reed (1830-1906) spent three months in the country. Published in 1880, this book gives an insight into Japan during a key period in her history and is an informal yet informed assessment of her people, customs, history and geography.

A valuable insight into British attitudes to Chinese trade in the years between the end of the East India Company's monopoly and the First Opium War, this 1836 pamphlet describes Chinese society and government, and the reasons behind Britain's inability to tap into this vast and potentially lucrative market.

This 1866 two-volume history of the Taiping Rebellion in China (1850-64) is both a defence of the rebels and a savage indictment of Britain's imperial policy and apathetic attitude to its consequences. It is an important and passionate account by a British soldier and participant.

George Thomas Staunton (1781-1859) was a sinologist who worked for the East India Company and made the first-ever translation of the Qing Dynasty's legal code into English, published in 1810. The legal code or 'Fundamental Laws' are organised into seven divisions: general, civil, fiscal, ritual, military, criminal and public works.

In 1857 Laurence Oliphant (1829-88), lawyer, journalist, diplomat and sometime spy, became private secretary to Lord Elgin, accompanying him on a diplomatic mission to Japan and China, aimed at extended British trading interests. His 1859 account provides a highly informative analysis of the negotiations from a privileged vantage point.

George Leonard Staunton (1737-1801) was part of Lord Macartney's delegation to China in 1792, intended to improve relations with Britain. The talks failed, but Staunton kept a detailed account of his time there, which was published in two volumes in 1797. Volume 1 describes the nine-month voyage to China.

This guide to China and Japan, edited by Nicholas Belfield Dennys (?1813-99) was one of the first directories of its type to be publicly available. Typeset and engraved in China, it was published in Hong Kong and London in 1867, and provides comprehensive information on the key treaty ports.

First published in French in 1797 and in this English translation in 1798, van Braam Houckgeest's 'faithful description' of a recent Dutch embassy to Beijing was received with enthusiasm by British readers. Volume 2 includes one of the last Western descriptions of the spectacular Summer Palace, destroyed in 1860.

Traveller and journalist Andrew Wilson used General Charles Gordon's journals to write this account of the suppression of the Taiping uprising in Qing-dynasty China in 1863-1864. First published in 1868, the book sheds light on the early career of one of Britain's greatest Victorian military heroes.

The Prussian-born Protestant missionary Karl Friedrich August Gutzlaff (1803-51) sought to spread Christianity in the Far East. A gifted linguist, he learned several Chinese dialects and distributed translated literature. This 1834 two-volume work sought to diminish Anglophone ignorance of China's history from mythological times to the ruling Qing dynasty.

Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) was a British statesman appointed Lieutenant Governor of Java between 1811 and 1815. These volumes, first published in 1817, contain his monumental history of the island, in which he provides a comprehensive ethnographic description with a detailed history. Volume 1 contains Raffles's ethnographic study.

The Prussian-born Protestant missionary Karl Friedrich August Gutzlaff (1803-51) sought to spread Christianity in the Far East. A gifted linguist, he learned several Chinese dialects and distributed translated literature. This 1838 two-volume work brought a wealth of information on Chinese geography, history, culture and government to a Western readership.

French naturalist Henri Mouhot (1826-61) spent three years travelling in remote areas of South-East Asia, where he eventually died. His papers and sketches were published in two volumes by his brother in 1864. Mouhout's illustrated account of his experiences reveals his fascination with the region and its natural history.

From 1868 to 1879 former French naval officer Jean Moura was administrator of the recently established French protectorate of Cambodia. He thoroughly researched Cambodia's history, geography and society, and on his return to France compiled this two-volume illustrated reference work, published 1883, the first of its kind in the West.