Edwin Dingle | The New Atlas and Commercial Gazetteer of China, Shanghai, c.1917

Dingle, Edwin John, editor

The New Atlas and Commercial Gazetteer of China: A work devoted to its geography & resources and economic & commercial development. Shanghai, China: North-China Daily News and Herald Ltd., [c. 1917]

PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY THE EDITOR, Large folio (558 x 425mm.), title printed in red and black, 25 coloured maps (several double-page and folding), numerous coloured graphs and tables in Chinese and English, black cloth-covered boards, lettered in gilt and blind-stamped on upper cover, extremities with slight wear

Presentation copy of the second edition of this standard reference work.

This comprehensive reference work on commercial activity in China has chapters on its commodities and industries, Maritime Customs, communications (roads, telephone, railways), the silk, tea, and opium trades, and more. It provides statistics on manufacturing, industry, agricultural production, natural resources, and imports and exports such as cotton, silk, and fireworks. Included are many profiles of provinces with descriptions of their climate, geography, resources, and main commodities. The appendix contains a list of China's treaties with other countries, public companies in China, English and Chinese weights and measures, a summary of China's cotton cultivation, and more. The 39 pages of ads at the end show banks, shipbuilders and shipping lines, insurance companies, banks, paper supplies, among others.

"'The New Atlas and Commercial Gazetteer of China' seeks to give all information that is essential to a business-man in regard to a country that comprises nearly a sixth of the earth's surface, a country that has the largest and most heterogeneous population in the world, a country about which less is known than in regard to any similar area in the world" (Preface).

Edwin John Dingle was an English journalist and fellow of the Royal Geographical Society who lived in Asia for over twenty years, traveling within China, India, Tibet, and Burma [Myanmar]. This book was considered one of the largest and most comprehensive works on China from the time of its publication throughout the 20th century.