First and only edition. Engraved portrait frontispiece. 8vo. Original cloth, restoration to spine, foxing to portrait, else clean. Overall a very good copy. xiii, 360pp. Boston, W. Crosby & H. P. Nichols, 1847.
Samuel Shaw (1754-1794) was the first United States Consul to China. He initially served as an officer in the American Revolutionary War before being sent to China by George Washington to further American interests in the China Trade. From 1786-1789 he lived in Canton as the chief American diplomat. Shaw died on his return voyage to the United States in 1794 and the present is the first and posthumous publication of the journal of three voyages to Canton. The first chapters give a biographical account of the event leading up to and including the Wars of Independence but the largest part of the books deals with his travels to, and the long residence in China.
