SECOND OPIUM WAR.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Relation de l'Expédition de Chine en 1860 Rédigée au Dépôt de la Guerre First edition, with the scarce wrappers retained, of this official French account of the Franco-British expedition northwards to Beijing, together with a well-preserved first edition of the accompanying atlas volume.The detailed narrative encompasses such pivotal moments as the third battle of the Taku Forts, the taking of Tianjin, the burning of the Summer Palace, and the battles of Zhangjiawan and Tongzhou. The finely engraved atlas includes maps of the Chinese coast, the December 1857 capture of Canton, the occupation of Tianjin by Anglo-French naval forces in May 1859, and the Western camp at Chefoo. Four other maps, all folding, show the Franco-British landing at Peh-tang, the battles of Zhangjiawan and Baliqiao, and the route of the Western advance from the mouth of the Peiho to Beijing.These works were produced at the behest of the Dépôt de la Guerre, the country's principal military archive and cartographic institution. Between 1852 and 1867, the Dépôt was run by Antoine Lucien Blondel (1801-1883), a major military cartographer. From 1859, Blondel reported to Jacques Louis César Alexandre Randon (1795-1871), a veteran of Napoleon's European campaigns and Marshal of France from 1856.

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