This is the first comprehensive and in-depth study of the Chinese collection in the Library of Congress, the largest collection of its kind in the Western world

“A fascinating, fast-paced history…full of remarkable characters and incredible stories” about the nineteenth-century American dynasties who battled for d

263 letters written by or to William Jardine and James Matheson... covers a period of rapid growth for Jardine, Matheson & Co, from 1827 when the founders first