A Broken Journey. Wanderings from the Hoang-Ho to the Islands of Saghalien and the Upper Reaches of the Amur River.
London. T. Werner Laurie. (Circa 1919). Stock ID #166931 "Mary Eliza Bakewell Gaunt (1861-1942), novelist and traveller, was born on 20 February 1861 at Indigo, Victoria, daughter of William Henry Gaunt, police magistrate and later judge, and his wife Elizabeth Mary, née Palmer... When referring to this item please quote stockid 166931.
Black and white frontispiece and 30 leaves of black & white photographic illustrations. Rebound in full maroon buckram with title lettered in gilt, new endpapers, xii +295pp, 22 x 14cm. Text-block has some light occasional foxing, some pertinent neatly pencilled notes on the rear endpaper, generally a tight and clean copy.
[Following her travels in Africa] she next determined to visit China, taking advantage of an invitation from George 'Chinese' Morrison and his bride, and arrived in Peking in February 1913. She travelled north by mule cart to visit the Hunting Palace of the Manchus at Jehol (Chengde). On her return, she rented a small temple in the hills west of Peking and wrote the greater part of 'A Woman Alone in China'.
To leave China, she had hoped to follow the old caravan route to Asiatic Russia but instead she had to return the way she had come, across Siberia, to Finland. Meanwhile war had broken out and she reached England with difficulty. Her experiences provided her with material for two travel books (A Broken Journey) and several novels and stories." (Australian Dictionary of Biography).
Price: $325.00 AU