2 volumes, folio. 340 photographic plates, 270 illustrative plates, 70 sketches, and 6 color plates with lettered tissue guards. Original gilt-stamped dark grey cloth (spines a touch sunned, vol.2 slightly skewed); publisher's printed card slipcases (old tape residue on sides).

FIRST EDITION. Ernst Boerschmann was a German architect, photographer, and sinologist renowned for his pioneering documentation of traditional Chinese architecture during the early 20th century. Commissioned by the German government, he conducted extensive fieldwork across 14 Chinese provinces (1906-1909), photographing and studying structures like temples, pagodas, and graves, later organizing them into thematic exhibitions such as his 1912 Berlin showcase. "His extensive publications, with valuable, mostly original photographs of Chinese architectural monuments, are fundamental to the study of Chinese architecture; they have contributed significantly to conveying an understanding of Chinese architecture in the West." (NDB II, 497).