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JOHNTHOMSON.
Illustrations of China and its People.Volumes I and II.
Each volume with 24 photographic plates, many with multiple photographs, for a total of 110
images, including studies of dwellings and other structures; splendid landscapes of various provinces;
and intimate ethnographic portraits depicting people of different occupations and provincial
backgrounds. With letterpress descriptive text by Thomson throughout. Collotypes, the images
measuring approximately 2
1
/
2
x2 to 12x10 inches (6.4x5 to 30.5x25.4 cm.), and the reverse. Folios,
gilt-lettered and illustrated dark brown leather, backstrips perished and edges worn; bookplates,
scattered foxing; all edges gilt.
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, 1873
[15,000/25,000]
Thomson’s introduction to his sweeping
Illustrations of China and its People
begins: “My design in
the accompanying work is to present a series of pictures of China and its people, such as shall convey
an accurate impression of the county I traversed as well as of the arts, usages, and manners which
prevail in different provinces of the Empire.With this intention I made the camera the constant
companion of my wanderings, and to it I am indebted for the faithful reproduction of the scenes I
visited, and of the types of race with which I came into contact.”
Thomson was born in Scotland, and traveled to Singapore to operate a watchmaking and
photography business with his brother in 1862. He traveled extensively in Asia, documenting the
people, landscapes, and monuments he encountered. In 1868 he moved to Hong Kong, with the
intention of embarking on a project to photograph China. He traveled more than 6,500 grueling
kilometers before 1872, carrying his cumbersome camera, equipment, and darkroom chemicals with
him, often in regions westerners had not yet seen.
Thomson returned to Britain a decade later to publish his images and writing. He is the first known
photographer to document the people and landscapes of China for Western dissemination and
publication, and is often considered a pioneer in photojournalism.