Slow Boats to China. by YOUNG, GAVIN:

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.NFINE/NFINE.No owner inscrptn but price-clipped to dw/dj.Pictorial water-colour style decorated dw/dj with minimal shelf-wear to edges and a small waterstain to foot of dw/dj spine/backstrip - boardds unaffected.Blue paper-covered boards with silver gilt letters to spine/backstrip,and map endpapers.Fore-edges slightly aged; contents bright,tight and clean.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,489pp includes b/w line illus by Salim in the form of chapter head+tail pieces,as well as throughout the text. Enthralled from childhood by the sea,ships,ports,landfalls,storms and everything to do with sea travel,Gavin Young set off on a sea voyage that was to take him halfway round the world on small,local boats of every kind.His love of the sea was inspired by Conrad,and this vivid and moving account of his journey - summoning up lands, people,conversation and memories - brings that masterly novelist to mind. Ancient steamer in the Aegean,cargo dhow to Karachi, Filipino kumpit through the pirate-infested Sulu Sea - these were some of the twenty-three vessels that carried Young on his astonishing odyssey from Piraeus to Canton.Improvised from port to port,his seven-month journey held its share of tension and risk,and it was full of excitement,friendship and nostalgia.In a series of haunting flashbacks,running in counterpoint to the present,he recalls his former impressions of countries and their peoples,visited when he was a war correspondent to the Observer or during his years as an explorer.A classic among travel books,certain to be reread and treasured,'Slow Boats to China' is rich in humour and anecdote and vivid with the sights,sounds and smells of the Orient. Please contact seller @ rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the lighter weight and the value of this item,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch, especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE.
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