The Silent Traveller in San Francisco

Title: The Silent Traveller in San Francisco

Author: Yee, Chiang

Publication: New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1964.

Description: Travel account of San Francisco, written and illustrated by the Chinese painter, calligrapher, and author Chiang Yee. First edition. Illustrated with sixteen color plates and over fifty in-text black-and-white drawings. Bound in full gray cloth over boards, stamped with blue lettering. 9.5 x 6.5 inches; 366, [2], [16] leaves of plates. Gift inscription dated 1966 on the front free endpaper. Binding with mild wear at the extremities and light dust soiling to top edge of textblock; dust jacket with clipped corners on front panel, mild edgewear, and moderate dust soiling. Very Good+ in Very Good jacket.

Chiang Yee was one of the first 20th-century Chinese writers to publish books in English. He was known for The Silent Traveller series, which detailed his visits to various locations in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, the United States, and Japan. He was born in China in 1903, moved to England in 1933, and then relocated to the United States in 1955, becoming a professor of Chinese at Columbia University. He was the subject of a 2010 biography by Da Zheng and a 2012 exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum.