The Chinese Puzzle.

Presentation copy. Presentation copy of Ransome's reworked journalistic dispatches from China from the author to his friend, the poet and critic Lascelles Abercrombie (1881-1938). The inscription simply reads: 'L.A. from A.R.' Abercrombie dedicated his 1911 play The Sale of Saint Thomas to Ransome, who in turn dedicated his 1931 novel Swallowdale to Abercrombie's daughter Elizabeth.

Ransome was sent to China by the Manchester Guardian in 1926. In his preface to The Chinese Puzzle, David Lloyd George wrote 'Our interest and China's interests are identical. We both want peace and we both want trade.... This is in substance... the view that Mr. Ransome expresses'.

Previously in the collection of the Ransome collector John Cowen, this copy was sold at Bonhams in 2015 along with another copy in the scarce jacket; it appears that the purchaser married the jacket to the presentation copy.

First edition, presentation copy inscribed by the author; 8vo; light spotting to prelims and endpapers; publisher's pale sage cloth, black lettering to spine, boards lightly marked, with the buff dust-jacket (supplied from another copy) printed in red, jacket slightly toned and chipped, otherwise a very good copy of a scarce work.