Picturesque China: Architecture and Landscape. A journey through twelve provinces by Boerschmann, Ernst - 1923

New York: Brentano's Publishers, 1923. 1st. Hardcover. Fair/Fair. 288 pages, hardcover. A look at the architecture and landscapes of pre-industrialized China. Cloth boards with front panel gilt titling intact. Fading to spine titling. Bowing to front panel. Bumping and fraying to corners and spine. Gutter cracked. Preliminary pages present but detached. Age toning to text block edges. Unmarked. Many black-and-white photographs and illustrations throughout. A scarce copy. Record # 951950

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1925. Scarce in original dust jacket. First UK edition. In hardback red cloth boards with gilt title. The front of the dust jacket has some marks, small tears / nicks to edges, a small surface loss, and a stain. Cloth boards are faded to the bottom and the boards are slightly warped. Neat bookseller label to the front of the dust jacket from La Librairie Francaise Peking - Tientsin. The bookshop was in the lobby of the Grand Hotel de Pekin and had a branch in Tientsin. Text and sepia reproductions of photographs taken by Ernst Boerschmann, documenting his journey in the 12 provinces: Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Szechuan, Hupei, Hunan, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang. Boerschmann was the first Westerner to systematically document Chinese religious architecture. Captions in English, German, French and Italian. xxvi, 288 pp. 315 x 245 mm (12½ x 9¾ inches).

New York, NY: Brentano's, 1923. Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. Ernst Boerschmann (Author-Photographer). EX-LIB/UNCIRCULATED COPY; no loan pocket. Text/NEW. Gilt embossed red linen boards/VG; sound w/light edge rubs; surface w/marked discoloration to front and spine. DJ/None. No publication date. PO name to front cover verso. Photographic record (w/titles in English, French, German, Spanish & Italian) of traditional Chinese architecture and aesthetics of attendant landscaping from German architect, historian, and photographer, Ernst Boerschmann (1873 - 1949) of Berlin Univ. , whose first saw China in 1902 as a member of the German Army (Shantung, the German sphere of influence, was home to Confucius, and still remains the center of Chinese beer brewing). Contents arrange historic sites by the 12 provinces covered, and is augmented by a list of sites, such as bridges, cave monasteries, graves, memorial gates, temples, mosques, and Bhuddha figures. The 2nd photo is a superb view of the Great… Read More