The Chater Collection. Pictures relating to China, Hongkong, Macao, 1655-1860; With Historical and Descriptive Letterpress London: Thornton Butterworth, 1924. Orange, James.

Quarto, original green cloth binding with gilt lettering, frontis portrait of Sir Paul Chater, maps (including 3 folding), many b&w plates, 18 colour plates with tissue guards, errata slip tipped in, pp 528, bibliography, index. Some light flecking to the edges of the boards, lightly rubbed to corners and head of spine. Previous owner's bookplate front endpaper.

Rare, from a first and only limited edition run of 750 numbered copies. Very good condition.

Sir Paul Chater was an important figure in colonial Hong Kong. He amassed a large collection of historical pictures and engravings relating to China which he gifted to the colony. When its curator James Orange published this work the collection stood at 430 items. It included oil paintings, watercolours, sketches, prints and photographs, most of which are based on scenes of Hong Kong and Macau as trading ports in the 18th and 19th centuries, and of British activities in China. The Chater Collection was dispersed and largely destroyed during the Japanese occupation, and only 94 pieces (now an important part of the collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art) are known to have survived.

Very good condition.