sharp james bowman (1 résultats)

Etat : Very good. 12¾" x 8¾". Quarter leather over marbled boards; stenciled/painted monogram to front cover. Pp. [6], 351 (approximately 70,000 words). Very good with moderate wear to boards which is heavy at edges and corners; internally near fine or better. This is a long and meticulously kept journal by an Englishman, James Bowman Sharp, which covers 16 years of his life. The first 100 pages document Sharp's time in China and the Far East. He writes well, with exceptionally detailed passages regarding all he experienced, and his trip to the Far East has approximately 40 miniature watercolors and 19 pen and ink illustrations. We think it possible Sharp intended the book for publication as it has a detailed index as well as subject headers on most pages. Sharp was apparently in China for a spice trading company for whom he was indentured for seven years as of 1857. He was clearly a talented artist and apparently was also a word worker, with some of his works exhibited in 1881. Sharp went to China during a significant period with respect to its relationship with England. In the 1860s, Britain's relationship with China was defined by the aftermath of the Second Opium War, which significantly increased British influence and power in China. The Treaty of Tientsin (1858) and the Convention of Peking (1860), resulting from the war, forced China to open more treaty ports, legalize the opium trade, and grant Britain control over parts of Kowloon. This period saw the establishment of British consulates and a legation in Beijing, further solidifying British presence and control. Also, as of 1862, China was experiencinig a period of intense internal conflict involving various rebellions and uprisings. The most prominent of these was the Taiping Rebellion, which was already well underway. Additionally, the Nian Rebellion, the Dungan Revolt, and the Yunnan Rebellion were also active, all contributing to the widespread unrest and instability in China during that time. Unsurprisingly, Sharp regularly shares news of conflict, and lived in a China that was in a constant state of flux. The journal begins April 28, 1862 with a watercolor of a French ship on the Red Sea taken from the P&O Navigation Company's steamship Bengal. His first entry: "As impressions made on the mind are so soon obliterated unless permanently fixed at the time, I commence these notes, hoping that a voyage to China, etc., may afford a few incidents worth recording, interesting (to the writer at least) to look back upon. This being about the first day in which I am able to write since leaving Southhampton owing to sea sickness and exhaustion. I must fill in from memory the incidents of the last nine days." So he went back to Saturday, April 19, 1862 when he traveled from London to Southampton to board the Ripon which reached Gibraltar on the 25th. He provided a small painting of the shoreline where he wrote, "the rocks shown have a very fine appearance especially when the water is lighted up and the lamps are reflected in the sea below." At Gibraltar, the ship took on coal and "the Spaniards that assisted looked like the most cutthroat rascals though of course coal haulers rarely show to advantage anywhere." On the 28th, Sharp passed the Galite Islands, near Tunisia, and included a painting of its coastline. On the 30th he visited Malta and provided a detailed description of its architecture, streets and shops. On May 3rd, he reached Alexandria in Egypt where he caught a train to Cairo that ultimately derailed and he shared the harrowing tale. In Cairo, where he included seven watercolors of locals as well as one of a fully outfitted donkey: "we saw a funeral procession; the corpse was carried in a dead box, covered with a white cloth and the attendants walked along singing a sort of doleful howl. We also passed a marriage procession in the Jewish quarter. The bride walked along covered with a long red bag put over her head like an extinguisher which reached down to her feet, her bridesma.