The Grandeur of the Gorges. Fifty Photographic Studies, with descriptive notes of China's Great Waterway, the Yangtze Kiang, including Twelve Hand-Coloured Prints
MENNIE, Donald
Published by Shanghai: A.S. Watson / Kelly & Walsh, Limited, 1926
Used
Hardcover
From
Picture This (ABA, ILAB, IVPDA), Sunningdale, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
AbeBooks Seller since 16 October 2016
This specific copy is no longer available. Here are our closest matches for The Grandeur of the Gorges. Fifty Photographic Studies, with descriptive notes of China's Great Waterway, the Yangtze Kiang, including Twelve Hand-Coloured Prints by MENNIE, Donald.
About this Item
Description:
First edition, limited edition of 1,000 copies, this being number 561. Quarto, 265mm x 315mm. Preface by Donald Mennie and with an introduction by Marc T. Greene. SIGNED by Donald Mennie in black ink to the limitation page. Fifty plates tipped into the book, of which 12 are gelatin silver prints that have been hand coloured and the remaining images are photo-mechanical reproductions. In the variant binding of original gilt-sprayed half calf over black silk with gilt lettering. The images are tipped onto the rectos, with detailed captions and a line drawing of a similar scene by Henry Gandy, each being initialed 'H.G.G.'. Donald Mennie was a Scottish-born American photographer and entrepreneur. In China he first worked for MacTavish, Lehmann & Co. of Shanghai, later the MacTavish Photo Shop, one of the first producers of picture post-cards of Shanghai. He then moved to A.S. Watson & Co., rising to become their managing director. He also published the Pageant of Peking in 1922 and several other photographic albums of China. Internally the book is in Fine condition as is the black silk and titling. The gilt on the spine and corners is rather rubbed and thus the book grades Near Fine. Colonel Henry George Gandy (1879-1950) served with the Royal Engineers in Ceylon from 1928 to his retirement in 1932. He visited Hong Kong, China and Singapore around this time and many paintings by him were used for book illustrations, Tuck's postcards and other commercial purposes. [Ref: Parr & Lundgren, The Chinese Photobook, p42-3]. Seller Inventory # B7227
Bibliographic Details
Title: The Grandeur of the Gorges. Fifty ...
Publisher: Shanghai: A.S. Watson / Kelly & Walsh, Limited
Publication Date: 1926
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Near Fine
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
Edition: 1st Edition
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
The Grandeur of the Gorges. Fifty Photographic Studies, with Descriptive Notes, of China's Great Waterway, the Yangtze Kiang, including Twelve Hand-Coloured Prints.
Published by
Shanghai: A. S. Watson & Company (The Shanghai Pharmacy, Ltd) [and] Kelly & Walsh, Limited, 1926, 1926
Used
First Edition
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
First edition, first printing, number 142 of 1000 copies, with the limitation page printed ad personam for Mrs. Lansing Hoyt, spouse of the chairman of the Yangtze Rapid Steamship Company. The company operated the Yichang to Chongqing river route travelled by the photographer when preparing this iconic work. We have traced just two similar personalized copies, neither with the same pleasing Yangtze association. Josephine C. Cudahy (b.1884), an heir to the Cudahy meatpacking fortune, married Lansing Weed Hoyt (1884-1954) in 1917. After the war, Lansing Hoyt became the American trade commissioner in Shanghai. In 1924, he was approached to be chairman of the Yangtze Rapid Steamship Company, formed from the merger of three smaller shipping firms: a former company of the same name, the Upper Yangtze Trading Company, and the Ichang Steamship Company. During the next twelve years, the Yangtze Rapid transported goods along the river between Yichang and Chongqing, operating a dozen ships at its peak. In 1935, the business was wound down and the Hoyts returned to Milwaukee, where the former shipping titan pursued a career in Republican Party politics. Donald Mennie (1875-1944) was a Scottish-born American photographer and entrepreneur who arrived in China in the late 1880s. There, he first worked for MacTavish, Lehmann & Co., later the MacTavish Photo Shop, one of the first producers of picture postcards of Shanghai. By 1914, he was working at A. S. Watson & Co., the Chinese equivalent of Boots, and eventually rose to become their managing director. Like Boots, Watsons offered photographic services, hence its partnership here with the leading Shanghai publisher Kelly & Walsh. Mennie employed the obsolete wet-plate process and printed his photographs in photogravure, often employing hand-colouring as in the present work. The overall impression is consciously antiquarian and an evocation of China's romantic past, epitomised in the country's beating heart: the majestic Yangtze. Quarto. Contemporary brown full morocco, bevelled boards, front cover lettered in gilt, top and bottom edge trimmed, fore edge untrimmed. With 50 tipped-in photogravure plates (12 hand-coloured), line-drawn vignettes after pen and ink sketches by Lieutenant Colonel Henry George Gandy throughout. Text printed in sepia and green. Leather professionally retouched, small loss at foot of spine, tips worn, internally bright with occasional faint spotting and well-preserved plates. A very good copy indeed. Seller Inventory # 155623
Quantity: 1 available