Volume 1 (Midsummer 1868) of a short-lived periodical produced by and for the British ex-pat community in Hong Kong between 1868 and 1870. It is possibly the first publication of any kind in the Far East to incorporate pasted-in original photographs. The China Magazine is of the utmost scarcity with only one known complete set, in Cornell University library in the USA. The Midsummer volume contains articles and 16 original photographs by the famous Scottish photographer and travel writer John Thomson (1837-1921). Thomson was living in Hong Kong at the time and was a major contributor of text and photographs to vol.1 and, to a lesser extent, vol. 2. He had established a photographic studio in the Commercial Bank building, in which most of the present photographs were processed. He did not contribute to vols. 3 and 4. The Library acquired a copy of vol. 2, the Christmas 1868 edition, which only has three prints attributed to Thomson, back in 2002. The acquisition of this first volume is a major addition to our excellent holdings of John Thomson-related books and our holdings of early photographically illustrated books connected to Scotland. There are no copies of vol. 1 held in Scotland and only one complete copy definitely known to be in the UK, in Cambridge. Purchased with assistance from the Magnus and Janet Soutar Trust and the Friends of the National Libraries