LITTLE, Alicia.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Signed proof of "Impressions of the Ichang Gorges". Signed "Alicia Little" at the foot of the second sheet and inscribed "North China Daily News" in the same hand at the head of the first. Despite this second note, the article was seemingly not published by the newspaper - the first traceable appearance of the text is in Chapter IX of Little's The Land of the Blue Gown (1902).A novelist and explorer, Little (née Bewicke, 1845-1926) regularly travelled in China in the company of her husband, Archibald, the first Westerner to open the Yangtze River to steam navigation. They "were sometimes pelted by foreigner-hating locals and at other times she had to try to pass for a male to be allowed shelter overnight" (ODNB). This article describes their expedition across rough terrain to the Dragon King's Cavern near Yichang. Little was also a leading figure in the late-Qing campaign against foot-binding.

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