You are bidding on this nice hard cover first edition of The Embroidered City, by Lewis D. Gelfan.  It has a copyright date of 1950, is a first edition, but I am unsure if it is a first printing, and was published by Little, Brown, and Company.  It is in very good condition, with only minimal wear at the corners and edges.  The spine and binding are good, and all 369 pages are intact and in good condition.  The paper dust jacket is also in good condition, with some wear and a few small tears at the edges, some fading and scuffs.  This is a nice book, and an interesting, entertaining read…

A Banker who caused a famine, A Mayor who gave a feast, A General who brought on a fury to The Embroidered City.  It is also the story of all the people who were subject to the wiles and shims of these three – who ate and did not eat, who worked and begged, who lived and died, depending on which condition was most conducive to a well-lined pocket and a powerful hand for the tree – and, in the final analysis, for the one who could prove himself the best man of the three.  It is a story of China today – of Americans in China, particularly of two young people, Peter Corey and Diane Hadley, give something in return for what the East offered them, yet have it in opposition until the death of a child brought them together – of soldiers in China, both American and Chinese, who resembled too much soldiers anywhere – of sailors and shopkeepers, clerks and gardeners, doctors and diplomats, all of whom lived in fear of losing the little that they had; some of whom would face that loss for the sake of love or of conscience when the time came…