| Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan, in the Years 1857, '58, '59 - Volume 2 Contributor(s): Oliphant, Laurence (Author) |
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ISBN: 1108045839 ISBN-13: 9781108045834 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $65.54 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 2012 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Asia - General |
| Series: Cambridge Library Collection - East and South-East Asian His |
| Physical Information: 1.23" H x 5.5" W x 8.5" (1.53 lbs) 554 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Asian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In 1857 Laurence Oliphant (1829-88), lawyer, journalist, diplomat and sometime spy, later Liberal MP, satirical novelist, and, for a time, adherent of the religious mystic Thomas Harris, became private secretary to Lord Elgin (1811-63), accompanying him to China, and thence to Japan, on a mission to protect and extend British trading interests in the region. Oliphant's 1859 account of the trip was published in two volumes. Volume 2 deals with the negotiation of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Yedo, the legalisation of the Chinese opium trade and combat with Chinese insurgents at Nankin. The work is a mixture of travel narrative - Oliphant had previously written about his travels in Nepal and in the Crimea (also reissued in this series) - and political analysis. It provides both an informative account of the war from a privileged vantage point and a window upon Oliphant's own colourful career. |