Skip to content

OPEN TODAY: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.

Tickets

Manuscripts

George Macartney papers


You might also be interested in

  • Image not available

    George Macartney papers

    Manuscripts

    This collection contains material relating to George Macartney's failed effort to establish a British embassy in Peking (modern day Beijing), China from 1792 to 1794. This includes correspondence with the Governor-General of the Philippines about a secret mission to Manila and correspondence with the East India Company and members of the embassy about intelligence, tactics, and conditions in China. One of the letters from the East India Company reports that Cai Shiwen, also known as Munqua and head of the Cohong, is under orders to follow Macartney's embassy and to act as their interpreter at court. The collection also contains a variety of materials documenting the preparations for the embassy, predicted and actual expenses, salaries, personnel, and gifts of the embassy before, during, and after the expedition. Box 2 contains an indenture between the East India Company and John Barrow, comptroller of the embassy, which documents his expected pay and limits his interactions with the Chinese. Barrow cannot lend or borrow money or have any transactions with the Chinese other than purchasing or procuring the necessary items for his maintenance and travel. It also contains a January 6, 1793, letter from Eyles Irwin, part of the East India Company's Secret and Superintending Committee at Canton, to Macartney describing conditions in China, tactics for the embassy, and news from India. Both items are restricted due to the fragility of the materials.

    mssMacartney

  • Image not available

    George Macartney papers

    Manuscripts

    This collection contains material relating to George Macartney's failed effort to establish a British embassy in Peking (modern day Beijing), China from 1792 to 1794. This includes correspondence with the Governor-General of the Philippines about a secret mission to Manila and correspondence with the East India Company and members of the embassy about intelligence, tactics, and conditions in China. One of the letters from the East India Company reports that Cai Shiwen, also known as Munqua and head of the Cohong, is under orders to follow Macartney's embassy and to act as their interpreter at court. The collection also contains a variety of materials documenting the preparations for the embassy, predicted and actual expenses, salaries, personnel, and gifts of the embassy before, during, and after the expedition. Box 2 contains an indenture between the East India Company and John Barrow, comptroller of the embassy, which documents his expected pay and limits his interactions with the Chinese. Barrow cannot lend or borrow money or have any transactions with the Chinese other than purchasing or procuring the necessary items for his maintenance and travel. It also contains a January 6, 1793, letter from Eyles Irwin, part of the East India Company's Secret and Superintending Committee at Canton, to Macartney describing conditions in China, tactics for the embassy, and news from India. Both items are restricted due to the fragility of the materials.

    mssMacartney

  • Image not available

    George Macartney commonplace book

    Manuscripts

    Includes accounts of or treatises on Russia, Canada, Trinidad, and Scotland.

    mssHM 686

  • Image not available

    The London embassy

    Rare Books

    The narrator, an American employee of the American Embassy in London, observes the British and their endless treasure trove of eccentricities on their home ground. And the Americans in the embassy are no less curious. There is the embassy Minister who is obsessed with rage at a male employee who wears an earring, an Arab who has come to London to rob a certain tomb, a woman who cycles all the way to Yorkshire to exact a peculiar revenge, and dozens of others who nurse some secret vagary.

    484479

  • Image not available

    The London embassy

    Rare Books

    The narrator, an American employee of the American Embassy in London, observes the British and their endless treasure trove of eccentricities on their home ground. And the Americans in the embassy are no less curious. There is the embassy Minister who is obsessed with rage at a male employee who wears an earring, an Arab who has come to London to rob a certain tomb, a woman who cycles all the way to Yorkshire to exact a peculiar revenge, and dozens of others who nurse some secret vagary.

    646357

  • Image not available

    The London embassy

    Rare Books

    The narrator, an American employee of the American Embassy in London, observes the British and their endless treasure trove of eccentricities on their home ground. And the Americans in the embassy are no less curious. There is the embassy Minister who is obsessed with rage at a male employee who wears an earring, an Arab who has come to London to rob a certain tomb, a woman who cycles all the way to Yorkshire to exact a peculiar revenge, and dozens of others who nurse some secret vagary.

    646358