Through China with a Camera [front cover].

"Cixi huang hou yu bi zhi bao" are the words of the seal of the Empress Dowager Tsze Hsi. This seal was used to confirm authorship of documents written by her. 'My design is to present a series of pictures of China and its people, such as shall convey an accurate impression of the country as well as of the arts, usages, and manners which prevail in different provinces of the Empire. With this intention I made the camera the constant companion of my wanderings, and to it I am indebted for the faithful reproduction of the scenes I visited, and of the people with whom I came into contact.' - Thomson, introduction to his Illustrations of China (London, 1873). Thomson continued his promotion of his work about China by publishing a more readily accessible and cheaper book: Through China with a Camera (1899)