Scarce pair of maps illustrating the travels of the British Embassy to China, let by Lord Amherst, in 1816 and 1817.

The maps are likely from Narrative of a journey in the interior of China : and of a voyage to and from that country, in the years 1816 and 1817, containing an account of the most interesting transactions of Lord Amherst's embassy to the court of Pekin and observations on the countries which it visited . . . printed in London in 1818.

The work illustrates Lord Amherst's mission to China, one of the main accounts of the period. The narrative was written by Clarke Abel, (1780 - 1826) a British surgeon and naturalist, who accompanied Lord Amherst on his mission to China as the embassy's chief medical officer and naturalist, on the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks.

The mission was Britain's second unsuccessful attempt to establish diplomatic relations with China and involved travelling to the capital Pekin (Beijing).