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Lot# 503 - 196-201 Auction

  • Lot# : 503 Imperial China

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    Amoy (Xiamen) China 1846: Autographed Lettersheet dated August 7th 1846 ".... enclosed is a letter for ... an American in Paris", two fully written up pages signed by William Henry Cumming (1820-1893) an American Medical Doctor and Missionary, reporting to Paris on the situation in China, discussing the famous Sinologist Walter H. Medhurst (1796-1857) and the German Missionary K.F.A. Gützlaff (1803-1851) " ... was here (in Amoy) about a month ago. He has become very fat and bulky. He is as strange a man as ever, a perfect nondescript." as well as daily news such as: "... Chusan has been evacuated by the British troops and restored the Chinese rule. The gates of Canton are still closed against foreigners in obedience to the unruly populace ...Chinese piracy is said to be on foreign vessels for the conveyance of goods to China ....". Xiamen was one of five Chinese Treaty Ports opened by the Treaty of Nanking (1842) at the end of the first Opium War. As a result, it was an early entry point for Protestant missions in China. Fine and interesting document.
    Starting bid : 1,000 CHF
    Hammer price : not sold