Books

Third Edition September 1954. 152 p.p., folding map of Hong Kong, with plans of Hong Kong and Kowloon verso, inside back cover. Printed and published by Cathay Limited, Hong Kong.

Useful guide book with a number of black and white photos and adverts for various shops.

A stamp in blue ink inside front cover of the previous owner who was "Senior Instruction Officer, H.M.S. Newcastle, 21 Mar 1956."

Of particular interest are the large number of advertisements offering a feel for life in the territory during the early 1950s. In her guide, Helen Eva Yates (1900-1993) purposefully adopts a relaxed tone perhaps better suited to the emerging middle-class travel market than some other contemporary guides. "Perhaps you hope to have a brocade evening coat made to order? Or a summer Shantung suit? A handsome camphorwood chest is just what you want to store your treasures in. Dad has long wanted a carved ivory chess set. Or you may be plotting to take home a heavenly trousseau set of silk lingerie for your sister's wedding. And you have always longed to own a dinner ring and earrings of cool apple-green jade. We'll tell you where to find them all" (p. 9). Yates wrote this guide partly at the urging of the American President Line, and copies were sold on board the APL's cruise ships and at its ticket offices in California and New York. Institutional copies found in British Library and Toronto Public Library. Octavo.