Korean Sketches by Gale, Rev. James S - 1898

Toronto: William Briggs, 1898. -----The scan you see is the book you get. Brown cloth with gilt lettering & tooled bands to spine, 256 pages with illustrations plus 8 b & w plates, Assumed 1st William Briggs ediiton, no indication of reprint or further date. Very Good Plus condition with minor edge wear & a few brownish spots on outside margins, with two small light blue stamps "Toronto City Union, The Kings Daughters and Sons" one stamp on back end paper & one stamp on pages 55 top edge. Two of the b & w photos clearly show prisoners bound and beaten, one in a 'cangue' & the other photo showing a person tied streched out, face down and buttocks bare. "With the same escort we passed through his gate, and found under the eaves of his office a row of prisoners seated on the ground wearing a 'cangue'. A 'cague' belongs to the same family as stocks or ankle-squeezers, but is worn round the neck. It is a plank a foot or more in width, and some four feet long, with a hole through the middle. Opened by a hinge, it can be locked round the neck, & there your are with a collar. The Mayor of the city was specially cold in his reception. When I entered he was taken with a violent fit of coughing that lasted nearly all the interview. During one period of cessation he had a prisoner called, stretched on the ground before his window, and then beaten with the paddles I had seen carried through the streets. The beating was accompanied by peculiar long-drawn notes to which the paddles kept time. The prisoner, meanwhile in agony, howled to the gods & spirits of his ancestors to witness that he was innocent. When the poor man had been reduced almost to a pulp, he confessed that he had done the deed, and was removed forthwith to have his wooden collar locked on again, and to spend the night under the droppings of the eaves." Contents include: First Impressions / The Coolie / The Yalu & Beyond / From Poverty to Riches / The Korean Pony / Across Korea / The Korean Boy / Korean New Year / The Korean Mind / The Korean Gentlemen / Korea's Present Condition / Some Special Friends / A Missionary Chapter / Methodist Episcopal Church South in Korea. Check out the scans. . Assumed 1st Briggs Edition . Hard Cover. Very Good to Very Good Plus/No Jacket. 12mo.