LETTERS AND JOURNALS OF JAMES, EIGHTH EARL OF ELGIN, Governor of Jamaica, Governor-General of Canada, Envoy to China, Viceroy of India. Edited by Theodore Walrond, C.B.
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1873. Second Edition. Large octavo, original brown sand-grain cloth blocked in gilt and black; brown coated endpapers. xxii + 467 pp, 12 pp publisher's adverts, dated November 1872, at rear. Full-page presentation inscription gifting the volume as a prize from the Dumferline Literary Institute in 1882, noting that the volume was a gift of the Dowager Countess of Elgin that was presented to the Institute by the late George Birrell, Esq. Light foxing here and there, minor wear to the cloth at extremities, corners slightly bumped; a Very Good copy. Item #313952
¶ Lord Elgin (1811-1863), was a British colonial administrator and diplomat. His roles included Governor General of the Province of Canada (1847-1854) and later High Commissioner in charge of opening trades with China and Japan, and Viceroy of India. As British High Commissioner in China during the Second Opium War, after repeatedly attacking China, he ordered the destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860. A large section of this work (pp 31-169) details his time in Canada. The four-page preface, dated 4 March 1872, is by Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Dean of Westminster.
Price (CAD): $150.00