The Chinese commercial guide, containing treaties, tariffs, regulations, tables, etc., useful in the trade to China & Eastern Asia; with an appendix of sailing directions for those seas and coasts.

Hong Kong : A. Shortrede, 1863. Fifth edition. Octavo, half polished calf over papered boards, spine gilt ruled in compartments with contrasting morocco title label lettered in gilt; lacking the half-title, title leaf (expert repairs to short tears, paper infill upper right corner); dedication leaf; pp. [xiii] – xvi (bound without pp. vi – xii, the Preface); 387; [blank]; [2 – Appendix title leaf]; 266, some marginal worming to final leaves, paper reinforcement; text in English and Chinese, folding tables, pale water stain to upper corners, a good copy.

The American Presbyterian missionary and linguist Samuel Wells Williams arrived in China in 1833 as supervisor of the printing press of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions at Canton. He later served as editor of The Chinese Repository; collaborated with Bridgman on the Chinese Chrestomathy in the Canton Dialect (1842); assisted Walter Medhurst in completing his English-Chinese Dictionary (1848); served as Secretary of the United States Legation to China (from 1855); wrote A tonic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Canton dialect (1856); played a key role in the negotiation of the Treaty of Tientsin, which ensured toleration of both Chinese and foreign Christians; and, on his return to America, was appointed the first Professor of Chinese language and literature in the United States at Yale.

The first edition of A Chinese commercial guide was published in 1834 by the author, John R. Morrison. The second and third editions, published in 1844 and 1848 with Morrison’s name appearing on the title page, were largely rewritten by Samuel Wells Williams. The revisions were so extensive that with the fourth edition Morrison’s name was dropped and William’s name appears on the title page as author. This edition, the fifth edition, is the first to be printed in Hong Kong.