Sian: A Coup État / A Fortnight in Sian: Extracts from a Diary

Mayling Soong Chiang (Madme Chiang Kai-shek) / Chiang Kai-shek

Published by The China Publishing Company, Shanghai, 1937

About this Item

Stated "First Edition de luxe, May 1937"; printed in China by Kelley & Walsh, Ltd.; red silk covers; exquisitely decorative cloth covered spine partly bound with a hard-to-describe decorative black thread; gilt front cover title (of only the first of the two books: "Sian: A Coup d' État") with gilt Chinese characters below it ("The Chinese characters on the silk cover are a translation of the titles in the Generalissimo's own calligraphy"--from the half-title page); gentle corner bumps, and a small faded ("sunned") area above the front cover gilt title; some foxing to the end papers and a heavy spiral pencil mark to the inner rear cover; "This book has been printed on specially prepared Chinese paper made by hand from bamboo fibre"--again from the half-title page; delicate uncut double pages, in the Asian manner; foreword by J. Leighton Stuart, presumably the author too of footnotes to some text pages; the text pages themselves tight, clean, square, and unmarked throughout, only a few spots (of "foxing"); 119 pp. with an index of "Names Mentioned in the Story and Diary"; remarkable piece of book-making and odd relic of Chinese-American history.

Seller Inventory # 002951

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Sian: A Coup État / A Fortnight in Sian: Extracts from a Diary
• Publisher: The China Publishing Company, Shanghai
• Publication Date: 1937
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good+
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket