Grandeurs and Mysteries | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Grandeurs and Mysteries

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Submitted by David on Tue, 2009-11-10 10:58

The recently added photo of Astor House was bought as part of an advertisement. When it arrived, it was clearly a page cut from a book, so we got a bonus of some more text and photos on the other side of the page. They are all listed below.

I guess the book was something like the 'Lonely Planet Guide to Asia' if you were leaving home in 1909. It must have been a weight to carry though, as this is page 257.

Would the advertisers have supported a second edition? In the advertisement the name 'Astor House' is spelled 'Aster House', and overleaf 'China's leading commercial firm' is introduced as 'Shewan Tombs & Co' instead of the correct spelling, 'Shewan Tomes & Co'.

Does anyone recognise which book this page was extracted from?

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Submitted by David on Tue, 2009-11-17 14:13.

Moddsey has pointed out I've answered my own question without realising it: the title of the second page, 'From Grandeurs of the West to Mysteries of the East', is also the title of the book.

Here's the entry in Google Books. You'd certainly have needed a long holiday, just to read the book. We've got page 257, but after finishing that you're only just past half-way - the whole book is 482 pages long!

The NY Times ran a review in their 9 Oct, 1909 issue, which started:

FOR THE GLOBE TROTTER.

Many valuable suggestions and much information that will be of practical assistance to the traveler who intends to take a trip around the world are contained in a book by Charlton B. Perkins, called "Travels from the Grandeurs of the West to Mysteries of the East; or, From Occident to Orient and Around the World."

Read the full review here.