HEBER-PERCY, HUGO, AND HETTIE HEBER-PERCY. 'HUGO AND HETTIE HEBER-PERCY'S TRAVELS TO AND IN AUSTRALIA. PHILIPPINES. CEYLON. INDIA & AMMAN. CHINA. JAPAN. BRITISH COLUMBIA & CANADA'. VARIOUS PLACES: 31 MARCH 1900 - 2 OCTOBER 1901

5 volumes (10 3/8 x 8 3/16 in.; 264 x 208 mm). Title-pages, 447pp. of typescript over 5 vols. Full crimson limp morocco, covers decoratively bordered in gilt, upper covers gilt-lettered, flat spines with six gilt-ruled compartments, second gilt-lettered, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers; some rubbing to edges, heads and tails of spines rubbed, occasional loss to morocco.

5 volumes (10 3/8 x 8 3/16 in.; 264 x 208 mm). Title-pages, 447pp. of typescript over 5 vols. Full crimson limp morocco, covers decoratively bordered in gilt, upper covers gilt-lettered, flat spines with six gilt-ruled compartments, second gilt-lettered, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers; some rubbing to edges, heads and tails of spines rubbed, occasional loss to morocco.
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A remarkably rich narrative composed by the intrepid wife of an English aristocrat, offering an unpublished account of a tour through India, the Philippines, China, Japan, Australia, and Canada.  The journal entries are those of Hettie Heber-Percy, and chronicle with charming and vivid detail her travels around the globe with her husband, Hugo. Hettie was diligent in her efforts, completing an entry for nearly each day of their journey, ranging from something as brief as "Hot, calm sea" (21 April 1900), to fuller accounts of the cultures and landscapes they encountered.  "Arrived at Colombo at about 7 o'clock.  Went ashore and took a carriage and drove to Mount Lavinia for breakfast, where we had an excellent curry; I had no idea that a 'real curry' had so many different kinds of things in it" (23 April 1900). 

There are entries relating to elephant, crocodile, tiger, leopard, and bison hunting (among others), as well as detailed descriptions of Hugo's foot surgery—which Hettie observed—news of President McKinley's assassination and Queen Victoria's death, impression of the Taj Mahal, and a visit to a tea factory. "Hugo and I started before the others and went to see the tea factory," Hettie writes.  "The first thing was the room with the machinery used to roll the tea, this machinery was made on the same principle as a man rolling up tobacco in his hands before filling a pipe...We watched the women running along to the weighing rooms, some with large deep baskets almost as tall as themselves and some with their pickings in cloths.  They only pick two leaves and a bud from each branch, but Mr. Grant told us that they would make fifteen tons of tea a day, when the rains came and could turn out as much as 20 tons a day" (9 April 1901). Incidentally, in addition to being a noted game hunter, Hugo Heber-Percy was the great grandson of Reginald Heber, who served as Bishop of Calcutta.