BIRD, Isabella, as Mrs. J. F. Bishop.

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The Yangtze Valley and Beyond. First US edition, first printing, in exceptional condition, of this account of 15 months travelling through China, illustrated with many of the author's outstanding photographs. Her books, providing Western audiences with fresh perspectives on faraway places, made her by far the most influential woman traveller of the late 19th century.Isabella Lucy Bird (1831-1904), writing under the name "Mrs J. F. Bishop," journeyed around China in 1896-97, including eight months spent on the Yangtze, as part of a three-year tour of East Asia. In the present work, first published in the UK in 1899, she chronicles her journey along the river westwards from Shanghai, via Ningbo, Hangzhou, Nankou, and Yichang. At Wanxian, Bird left the river and headed due west to the territory of the Miao people, before heading south to pick up the river again at Chongqing. Throughout, she displays a discerning eye for detail, immersing her readers in everything from cultural customs to the economic impact of the opening of treaty ports."A born traveller, and a lasting inspiration" (Robinson, p. 83), Bird was part of the first cohort of women granted membership of the RGS in 1892, and in 1897 she was also made a member of the Royal Photographic Society. Additional photographs from her China travels appeared in her Chinese Pictures (1900).Provenance: inscribed on the front pastedowns, "William W. Smith, Trinity Hall, Washington PA, Feb. 20 1900". The banker and philanthropist Wi

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