1850 WILLIAM CHALMERS BURNS. Very Rare Carte de Visite - Chinese Missionary - M'Cheyne Revival
1850 WILLIAM CHALMERS BURNS. Very Rare Carte de Visite - Chinese Missionary - M'Cheyne Revival
Here is a gem! A wonderful c.1850 carte de visite of William Chalmers Burns in full Chinese Dress. He was of course the friend of Robert Murray M'Cheyne who famously preached the great revival in Dundee, Scotland while M'Cheyne was in Palestine recovering from burnout. He then became missionary to China and mentored a young man named J. Hudson Taylor when he first arrived.
We have never seen this image before; there is another known CDV of Burns standing in Chinese dress. This one, issued in Dundee, is of a seated Burns, also in full Chinese Dress, c.1850’s. He holds an umbrella in one hand and book in the other; probably taken during the same sitting as the other known image as his dress appears to be the same, though we cannot trace another example.
Issued by J. Valentine. Dundee, Scotland.
Image in good + to very good condition; margins slightly corner clipped, not affecting image.