Dennys, Nicholas Belfield (sold)
Nicholas Belfield Dennys (January 25, 1839 - December 5, 1900) was a British journalist, civil servant, and sinologist based in China and Singapore in the second half of the 19th century. Dennys joined the British navy in 1855. In that year, he saw action at the Crimean War (1853 - 1856) Battle of Suomenlinna. In 1863 he subsequently resigned from the Navy and joined the British Consular Service in China. He showed a remarkable aptitude for languages and quickly learnt Chinese, after which he resigned from the consular service to take over the newspaper China Mail, a position he maintained until 1976. At the same time, he was the curator of the Hong Kong Museum and Library. In 1877, he relocated to Singapore, where he became assistant-protector of Chinese at Singapore and Justice of Peace for the Straits Settlements. There too, he became a museum curator, taking over the Raffle Museum. In 1889, he received a post as magistrate in the Federated Malay States, but, in ill health, almost immediately resigned. He is considered a pioneer Sinologist, his most influential works being his 1867 The Treaty Ports of China and his 1876 Folklore of China.
First guidebook to Hong Kong, w/ Maps.
The Treaty Ports of China and Japan. A Complete guide to the Open Ports of Those Countries, Together with Peking, Yedo, Hong Kong and Macao.
sold
- Digital Map Information
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- Full resolution TIFF file
- ICC color profile embedded
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This is the 1867 first edition of Nicholas Belfield Dennys' (c. 1813 - 1899) detailed guide to the Treaty Ports of China and Japan, including a dramatic large map of Victoria, Hong Kong. Intended both for new residents and travelers, it is the first commercially distributed handbook to the post-Opium War Treaty Ports. There are an impressive 29 excellent maps, most fold out, all engraved in Hong Kong. Like the maps, the book was typeset in China, where place names and other content could be set in both English and Chinese. (more details)