YANG AND YIN: A Novel of an American Doctor in China. [The Author's Signed, Date

Indianapolis [1936], Merrill. Red cloth, very good, 366p. ca. 14 x 21 cm., gold stamped, very bright, clean copy, in mylar protected dustjacket, dj. minor wear, head/tail chips. FIRST EDITION *THE AUTHOR'S SIGNED, DATED PRESENTATION COPY* *** *** *** . . . BASED ON THE LIVES OF TWO AMERICANS IN CHINA . . . DR. ALFRED C. REED & DR. J.C. FERGUSON . . *** A well-told story, it addresses the impact of West upon East, the blind drive of machinery into a civilization already over-stocked with man power, the forcing of impersonal business organization upon a people governed by personal responsibility to the clan, the onslaught of aggressive thinking upon the quietude of Eastern philosophies. . This is a fictional story based on two actual Americans who lived and workedin China. The author knew a substantial number of Americans and other foreigners in China, this is her candid story of the activities of a missionary and physican. Hobart draws on her personal knowledge and long experiences while living in China for almost two decades. . *** The fictionalized stories of Dr. ALFRED C. REED [1884-1951] and DR. JOHN C. FERGUSON [1886-1945]. . Ferguson was an American missionary, scholar of Chinese art, collector and procurer for American art museums, and a Chinese governmental adviser. . Ferguson and wife were posted to a Methodist mission in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, where he took up the serious study of the Chinese language. See much more in the link below. . *** WHO WAS THE AUTHOR Alice Tisdale Hobart [1882-1967]: She was a well-known American woman and author of popular fiction & non-fiction books about life in China. . She was born Alice Nourse in Lockport, New York. Her most famous book, OIL FOR THE LAMPS OF CHINA, which was also made into a film, drew heavily on her experiences as the wife of an American oil executive in China amid the turmoil of the overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty in 1912. . Mrs. Hobart has intimate knowledge of China and the relations of the Americans and Europeans who have put down roots deep into China, whether in self identification or service or industry and of the Chinese with whom they come in contact. . She first traveled to China in 1908 to visit her sister Mary, who taught at a girl's school in Hangchow, and returned two years later to take up a post at the same establishment. . After marrying Earle Tisdale Hobart, a Standard Oil Company executive, in Tientsin in 1914, she traveled to Manchuria and in 1916 published an article on her experiences at the hands of Manchurian bandits in The Atlantic Monthly. . THE WRITINGS OF HOBART: . Her Atlantic Montly article led to a series of pieces entitled "Leaves From a Manchurian Diary" and formed the basis for her first book: "PIONEERING WHERE THE WORLD IS OLD" in 1917. This title was written under her maiden name Alice Nourse. . Her life in Changsha formed the backdrop for her second book, "BY THE CITY OF THE LONG SAND," while an assault on Nanking by Nationalist soldiers and her escape over the city wall to the safety of the waiting American gunboats was recounted in "WITHIN THE WALLS OF NANKING" in 1928. This book started as a piece in Harper's Magazine. . Her fictional account of her experiences in China, not surprisingly, focused on the role played by Western businessmen, especially those engaged in importing and selling petroleum products. . *** OTHER FASCINATING BOOKS ABOUT CHINA: . "PIDGIN CARGO," set among traders on the Yangtze River, appeared in 1929, and later republished in 1934, with a new title: "RIVER SUPREME," her "OIL FOR THE LAMPS OF CHINA" in 1933. . After making her home in California in the 1940s, her writing subjects expanded to encompass contemporary Mexico in "THE PEACOCK SHEDS HIS TAIL" (1945) and "CALIFORNIAN AGRARIAN LIFE IN THE CUP AND THE SWORD" 1942); her "THE CLEFT ROCK" (1948). In 1959 she published her memoir, "GUTSY'S CHILD." . She published more than a dozen novels in all by the time of her death in 1967, with almost four million copies in print. . HER WRITINGS: · Oil for the Lamps of China · Leaves From a Manchurian Diary · Pioneering Where the World is Old · By the City of the Long Sand · Within the Walls of Nanking · Pidgin Cargo · River Supreme · The Peacock Sheds His Tail · The Cup and the Sword · The Cleft Rock · Gusty's Child . Yang and Yin . Their Own Country . Venture Into Darkness . The Serpent-Wreathed Staff . The Innocent Dreamers . *** Note: a scans of the dust jackets in mylar portectors may have some reflections, these are NOT part of the condition of the jacket, just a light reflection. . *** Please visit our website, as we have many other books by Hobart, related to China. . *** REFERENCE: ALICE TISDALE HOBART: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Tisdale_Hobart * ALFRED C. REED: His archive is housed in the Lane Medical Archives of Stanford University Medical Center: http://elane.stanford.edu/aid/06_Reed/index.htm * DR. JOHN C. FERGUSON: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin_Ferguson . * .