The pageant of Peking: comprising . . . Vandyck photogravures of Peking and environs from photographs . . .

Shanghai: A.S. Watson & Co., Ltd., Printed & Bound by Kelly & Walsh, Ltd., [1921]. Folio. [6], 40 pp. Title in red & black, rubricated decorated initial, with 66 tipped-in sepia- and aqua-tinted photogravures, each w/ printed border, explanatory text on facing page. Publisher’s decorated blue silk over beveled boards, gilt lettering stamped on front cover (rebacked in blue silk, gilt lettering on spine in equivalent font, wear to fore-edges of boards w/ minor loss at fore-edges on front & back covers, minor bumping & wear to corners), still VG- copy, w/ interior in excellent condition, from the library of Dr. Leonard William Buck (1891-1953), scion of the famed Buck family in Vacaville, CA, whose holdings included Bucktown, and the ranch where the California Medical Facility is located. Dr. Buck traveled to Asia on behalf of the California Grower’s and Shipper’s protective League at the behest of his brother Frank in 1921. Second edition of this large and beautiful photographic souvenir portraying the ancient Chinese capital and surrounding countryside. The striking images by Mennie portray Chinese temples, palaces, peddlers, laborers, ancient walled cities, Chinese shops, and Chinese eating at outdoor tables at the beginning of the 20th century. Mennie (1875/6-1941), trained as a chemist and worked as an amateur photographer in Scotland. He initially began working in China as an assistant in the firm of Mactavish & Lehman & Co. in Beijing, later working for the Mactavish Photo Shop in Shanghai, as one of the first producers in China of picture postcards. He later joined the A.S. Watson & Co. -- chemists, druggists, wine, spirits, & cigar Merchants who also dealt in all kinds of photographic chemicals and equipment, later becoming their managing director (the firm still flourishes to this day as one of the largest health and beauty retailers in the world). Mennie contributed photographic images for numerous works, and published several of his own images. He died in the Japanese Lungwha internment camp near Shanghai in 1941. See: Worswick & Spence, Imperial China: Photographs 1850-1912 (1979).