Foreign Mud - an Account of the Opium War (Faber Library): 26 - Hardcover

Collis, Maurice

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571193013 ISBN 13: 9780571193011

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 1997

Synopsis

This is one of a series of titles first published by Faber between 1930 and 1990, and in a style and format planned with a view to the appearance of the volumes on the bookshelf. Maurice Collis's account of the Opium War was first published in 1946. Opium - "foreign mud" - was smuggled into China in the early-19th century by British and other Western ships while their governments looked the other way. To the merchants it was a fair trade, particularly so because China refused to open up her markets to the world. To the Chinese court, however, it was an outrage: an affront to the dignity of the Celestial Empire by unruly foreign barbarians. War became inevitable.

About this title

About the Author:

Maurice Collis was born in 1889, the son of an Irish solicitor. He entered the Indian Civil Service in 1911 and was posted to Burma, rising to the position of district magistrate in Rangoon in 1929, where the independence of his judgments displeased his superiors who moved him to the position of Excise Commissioner. He returned to England in 1934. He wrote over twenty books, including volumes of autobiography, travel writing, novels, histories and three plays. He died in 1973.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0571193013
• ISBN 13: 9780571193011
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304