Narrative Expedition to China 1842 Bingham 1st Ed Vol I Opium War
 
The Narrative Expedition to China 1842 Bingham 1st Edition. First Opium War account with map and plates, library provenance and maritime history interest.
 
Title & Bibliographic Details
Title: Narrative of the Expedition to China, from the Commencement of the War to the Present Period; with Sketches of the Manners and Customs of that Singular and Hitherto Almost Unknown Country
Author: Commander J. Elliot Bingham, R.N.
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Henry Colburn, Great Marlborough Street, London
Date: 1842
Printer: Harrison and Co., St. Martin's Lane
Format: Two volumes (this copy Vol. I only)
Collation (Vol I): xv + 395 pages
Illustrations:
 
Frontispiece engraving (Mouth of the Pei-Ho, 1840)
Outline map of the Coast of China
Plate facing p.289
Appendix present
 
Preface dated October 1, 1842.
 
Historical & Bibliographic Context
This is one of the earliest published first-hand British naval accounts of the First Opium War (1839–1842).
 
Commander Bingham served aboard H.M.S. Modeste and provides a detailed eyewitness narrative of:
 
The Opium Question
British military operations
Negotiations with Chinese officials
The occupation of Chusan
Ningpo and the Pei-Ho
Maritime and diplomatic tensions
 
Published in the very year the war concluded (Treaty of Nanking, 1842), this work is an important primary source documenting Britain’s expansion of trade influence in China and the origins of Hong Kong’s cession.
 
Early Opium War narratives are increasingly collected in both military and Asian colonial history circles.
 
About the Author
Commander J. Elliot Bingham (1799–1868) was a Royal Navy officer whose first-hand account of the First Opium War became one of the earliest published British naval narratives of the conflict.
 
His work is valued for its immediacy and observational detail.
 
Binding & Exterior Description
Half leather binding with marbled boards, leather spine and corners.
 
Notable provenance features:
 
Library warning plate to front board
Green printed label of Hargrove’s Repository of the Fine Arts and City & County Library, Coney Street, York
 
Hargrove’s was a 19th-century York bookseller, circulating library and print repository operating in Coney Street – an important commercial street in York. Such labels indicate the book circulated through a subscription library, adding historical interest.
 
Condition:
 
Heavy rubbing and scratching
Splits along front and rear spine joints
Heavy wear to corners and spine ends
Partial loss of spine label
Structurally fragile but intact
 
Interior Condition
Light green pastedowns and endpapers
Light tanning
Occasional light foxing or small marks
Heavier marking to p.383 (text fully legible)
 
Provenance:
Ink stamp: “J. Dove, Joiner & Builder, Watnall Road, Hucknall Torkard, Nottingham”
Pencil inscription possibly “J. Dove, Albert St., Hucknall”
 
Hucknall Torkard (Nottinghamshire) was an industrial town; this likely indicates 19th-century working ownership rather than later dealer marking – a charming piece of social provenance.
 
Structural notes:
 
Frontispiece loose but present (creased, small edge tears)
Rip to inner margin of front free endpaper
Small inner margin rip p.143
Gutter crack at title page
A few further light gutter cracks
Light crack between rear endpapers
 
All xv + 395 pages complete.
 
Physical Details
19.5 cm x 12.4 cm x 3.3 cm
Weight: approx. 536g
 
Rarity & Collector Notes
First edition sets (1842, two volumes complete) are scarce and increasingly desirable, particularly in sound original cloth or fine bindings.
 
Single volumes appear less frequently but remain collectible due to:
 
First Opium War subject matter
Naval eyewitness narrative
Early China–Britain relations
Map and plate content
 
While incomplete as a set, this remains a genuine 1842 first edition volume with strong historical significance.
 
Collectors of:
 
Maritime history
British Empire
China trade
Military history
Opium War material
 
will recognise its importance.