Banister thomas roger (1 risultati)

First edition. Thomas Roger Banister (1890-1955), Deputy Commissioner of Customs, compiled this comprehensive study of lighthouses during research trips along the Chinese coast. Dividing the coast into five districts, Coastwise Lights gives historical details on each lighthouse station alongside a wealth of technical information. By the 1930s, the Chinese Maritime Customs Service had become one of the most important entities in China, employing thousands of people to oversee a complex web of infrastructure and trading posts. It developed and maintained an extensive network of navigational lights. Banister was the consummate customs service "lifer", joining at the age of 23 and spending a large amount of his career based in Shanghai. In the same year that he published this work, he also compiled two histories of China's external trade for the service's decennial report. Several years later, he was promoted to the rank of Commissioner, and he eventually retired in 1946, only a few years before the end of foreign involvement in Chinese revenue collection. Quarto. Half-tone frontispiece showing part of statue of Sir Robert Hart, 7 colour maps, illustrations throughout; text printed in green and black within green frames. Publisher's deluxe binding of dark green quarter sheep, recased, spine and front cover lettered in gilt, green cloth sides, green coated endpapers. Spine repaired, spotting and marking to edges: very good.…