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First published in French in Philadelphia in 1797 and translated into English for the London edition of 1798 reissued here, this travelogue by André Everard van Braam Houckgeest (1739–1801) was received with enthusiasm by readers hungry for exotic accounts of distant lands. It vividly describes a visit to the Chinese imperial court by a delegation from the Dutch East India Company soon after the British Macartney embassy, and delivers a rare glimpse of an unfamiliar landscape and culture. Fascinated by his experiences, van Braam records that he thought it 'far better to lose a few hours rest, than to let a single remarkable object escape me'. Volume 2 includes one of the last known Western descriptions of the spectacular Summer Palace, destroyed in 1860, and a detailed list of several hundred Chinese paintings and drawings that van Braam brought back and intended to donate to the French nation.
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