Margary, Augustus Raymond

FIRST EDITION, 8vo (218 x 136mm.), [ii], xxiv, 382pp., [ii]+28+[iv] pp. adverts, folding map, engraved portrait, original decorated brown cloth, black endpapers, slipcase

Löwendahl 1482

A Chinese-speaking officer who impressed the Burmese with his skill "in the use of chopsticks and all other points of etiquette", Margary was sent on reconnaissance from Shanghai to Burma in 1874. On completing the journey without mishap, he was asked to lead a British mission from Burma to Shanghai, its purpose being to secure a British overland trade route from India to China. However, Margary was brutally murdered at the hands of wild hill tribes in Manwyne. The present account was compiled posthumously from his own manuscript notes, journals and letters, and is concluded by an additional chapter by Sir Rutherford Alcock, K.C.B., the first British diplomatic representative to live in Japan and the editor of this work.

See illustration on next page.