Remarkable yet controversial, the Prussian-born Protestant missionary Karl Friedrich August Gutzlaff (1803-51) sought to spread Christianity in the Far East. A gifted linguist, he sailed to Siam and worked on translating the Bible into Thai. The British missionary Robert Morrison had fired his interest in China, and Gutzlaff later focused his evangelising efforts there, learning several dialects and distributing translated literature. Furthermore, he served as an interpreter for the East India Company. Also reissued in this series are his Journal of Three Voyages along the Coast of China (1834) and A Sketch of Chinese History (1834). Edited down into two substantial volumes by the Congregational minister Andrew Reed (1787-1862), the present work was published in 1838. It aimed to generate support for the missionary cause by giving Anglophone readers deeper insight into an unfamiliar civilisation. Volume 1 addresses geography and topography, before moving onto history, language and culture.

Remarkable yet controversial, the Prussian-born Protestant missionary Karl Friedrich August Gutzlaff (1803-51) sought to spread Christianity in the Far East. A gifted linguist, he sailed to Siam and worked on translating the Bible into Thai. The British missionary Robert Morrison had fired his interest in China, and Gutzlaff later focused his evangelising efforts there, learning several dialects and distributing translated literature. Furthermore, he served as an interpreter for the East India Company. Also reissued in this series are his Journal of Three Voyages along the Coast of China (1834) and A Sketch of Chinese History (1834). Edited down into two substantial volumes by the Congregational minister Andrew Reed (1787-1862), the present work was published in 1838. It aimed to generate support for the missionary cause by giving Anglophone readers deeper insight into an unfamiliar civilisation. Volume 2 addresses arts and sciences, religion, and government at all levels.

Andrew Reed (1787 1862) was a Congregational Minister and one of the leading philanthropists of his day, fund-raising for and founding a number of orphanages and asylums. In 1834, he and fellow Congregational Minister James Matheson (1766 1840) were sent to the Congregational churches of the United States, in order to promote peace and friendship between the two communities. This two-volume 1835 work consists of thirty-nine letters in which the authors recount their journey, and their meetings with their fellow Congregationalists. They visited a large number of cities, mostly on the Eastern Seaboard, and made one excursion to Canada. In Volume 1, the focus is on their arrival in America and their first impression of the country and its people. They note with approval that that 'there is less claptrap, less trifling, and no frivolity' in Congregational services in the United States, as compared with England.

Andrew Reed (1787-1862) was a Congregational Minister and one of the leading philanthropists of his day, fund-raising for and founding a number of orphanages and asylums. In 1834, he and fellow Congregational Minister James Matheson (1766-1840) were sent to the Congregational churches of the United States, in order to promote peace and friendship between the two communities. This two-volume 1835 work consists of thirty-nine letters in which the authors recount their journey, and their meetings with their fellow Congregationalists. They visited a large number of cities, mostly on the Eastern Seaboard, and made one excursion to Canada. Volume 2 tells of the many different communities that Reed and Matheson encounter in America, and the focus is mostly on theological and educational issues. They approve of female academies, asking rhetorically, 'why should not our daughters, equally with our sons, possess the advantages, which these institutions ... so readily supply?'.

Andrew Reed (1787-1862) was a Congregational minister, an energetic philanthropist and a highly successful fundraiser. He began to study theology at Hackney Academy in 1807 and was ordained minister in 1811, serving in this role until 1861. He helped to found numerous charitable institutions, most notably the London Orphan Asylum, the Asylum for Fatherless Children, the Asylum for Idiots, the Infant Orphan Asylum, and the Hospital for Incurables. In addition to his charitable work, he found time to write. He compiled a hymn book, and published sermons, devotional books and an account of his visit to America in 1834, when he received a Doctorate of Divinity from Yale. This biography of Reed, compiled by two of his sons, was first published in 1863. It describes his many achievements, using selections from Reed's own journals, and includes a list of his publications.