Twilight in the Forbidden City. With a Preface by the Emperor. First Edition thus

Original green cloth, spine faded. Mild wear to top corners and top spine. Rear endpaper uncracked at gutter, front endpaper just starting. Mild foxing to page edges. No foxing / browning to endpapers or title page. 43 plates. Folding copy of document (partly in red), 2 tissue maps, 1 folding. First edition, fourth impression: the first impression was published the same year. Johnston's preface to the fourth impression, p. 6, notes that in this impression he has been authorised to reveal the identity of a 'foreign minister' mentioned on pp. 324-334, in fact the Dutch diplomat W. J. Oudendijk, who was involved in a failed attempt by the young emperor Puyi to escape from the Forbidden City, where he had been allowed to remain with his retinue, retaining his imperial title though not his power, after his abdication in the wake of the 1911 Revolution. Reginald Johnston (1874-1938), colonial administrator and Sinologist, served as tutor and advisor to Puyi from late 1918 to 1924, when Puyi was finally expelled from the Forbidden City. Johnston's 'linguistic talents, and sensitivity and sympathy for traditional China', saw him established not merely as a tutor but as the titular emperor's 'confidante and adviser in internal palace affairs (notably a long struggle to outwit the imperial eunuchs) and relations with the merry-go-round of warlord presidents' (ODNB). Puyi's high regard for his old tutor is displayed in his 1931 preface to this volume: 'As a writer and as a man Johnston is one who is not surpassed by the best of our native scholars'. Twilight in the Forbidden City remains a classic account of the last years of the Qing dynasty, and the fourth impression, with its minor revisions, the standard version of the text. Robust packaging. Tracking is always added to USA orders. It can be added to other overseas orders on request. Used books are exempt from USA tariffs. 1st edition, 4th impress. Size: 486pp.…