EAST, Frederick J.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

A Shooting Picnic in China and the Result Thereof. First edition, the author's retained copy, inscribed "author's copy" on the first blank. This scarce Hong Kong imprint, describing a five-man jaunt to Qianshan near Macao, is unrecorded institutionally, and we have traced only one other copy in commerce.Little information on East survives, except that he worked for the merchant outfit Dodwell, Carlill and Co. in Hong Kong in the 1890s. Qianshan was a popular destination for shooting, due to its plentiful water fowl, and East made his ramble in the company of four expatriate friends - "Harold, Donald, Patrick and Don Giovani, all being most jolly fellows" (p. 2). The lively account, mixing descriptions of sport with escapades in and around Macao, was likely produced in a small run as a keepsake for the author's fellow travellers and close associates.A loosely inserted card, written in two different hands, links East with H. Grant Smith, a merchant employed by Holliday, Wise & Co. Inscribed "Mr. F. J. East, Compliments of the Season" and signed by Smith, it likely relates to the giving of a gift to East, perhaps following the receipt of a copy of A Shooting Picnic.

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