Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan in the Years 1857to 1859 by Laurence Oliphant in 2 volumes. Published by Willaim Blackwood and Sons. Early binding of three quarter calf leather with marbled boards and marbled edges to the text blocks. Spine has 5 raised bands with gilt decorations and gilt title on black leather.Obvious wear to boards, less so to spine. Volume 1 has loss to end-paper on front paste down presumably due to a previously removed name-plate(see photo). Some foxing throughout in both books most apparent on the preliminaries .Volume 1 has 4 hand-coloured chromolithographs which are stunning and have foxing around the blank borders,numerous engravings on wood and two maps. the second map at the end of the book is shown in the photo above, it has an old small tape repair and a tear about 3cm long. Volume 2 has 15 hand-coloured chromolithographs , numerous engravings on wood and three maps. Overall two complete, very good copies.