ELLIS, Henry (1788-1855). Journal of the Proceedings of the Late Embassy to China; Comprising a Correct Narrative of the Public Transactions of the Embassy. Of the Voyage to and from China, and of the Journey from the Mouth of the Pei-Ho to the Return to Canton. Interspersed with Observations upon the Face of the Country, the Polity, Moral Character, and Manners of the Chinese Nation. London: Printed by John Murray, 1817. 4to (264 x 210mm). Engraved portrait frontispiece of Lord Amherst, 7 hand-coloured aquatint plates by J. Clark after Charles Abbot, 2 engraved maps only (of 3, lacking the large folding map), errata leaf at the end (frontispiece spotted, the maps browned and spotted, some light mainly marginal spotting and staining but the aquatint plates generally very clean). 19th-century calf gilt decorated in blind (worn, covers detached along with the frontispiece, title and errata leaf). FIRST EDITION. In the "Directions for Placing the Drawings" the entry for the folding map, lacking from this copy, has been deleted with a series of small printed typographical ornaments [illustrated], as if amended by the printer. This map is often lacking: was it, perhaps, removed from later printings? and, if so, why? Abbey Travel 536; Cordier Sinica III, 2393; not in Hardie; Hill I, 94; Prideaux pp.250-1; Tooley 208. With Edward Daniel Clarke's Travels to Various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa ... Part the Second. Greece, Egypt and the Holy Land. Section the Second [only] (London, 1814, 4to, engraved plates and maps, some folding, contemporary calf with [volume] "3" stamped in gilt on the spine, worn, upper cover detached). The lot sold not subject to return. (2)
