News of Lord Macartney's embassy, the first British diplomatic mission to China, caused much excitement in Britain. Publishers were naturally keen to rush accounts into print as soon as possible and the present narrative, by Macartney's valet, was the first book describing the embassy to appear. It went through several editions, indicative of widespread popular interest, even if scholars and other writers consider that it lacks the gravitas of the authorised account published by Staunton in 1797, three years after the embassy's return.

News of Lord Macartney's embassy, the first British diplomatic mission to China, caused much excitement in Britain. Publishers were naturally keen to rush accounts into print as soon as possible and the present narrative, by Macartney's valet, was the first book describing the embassy to appear. It went through several editions, indicative of widespread popular interest, even if scholars and other writers consider that it lacks the gravitas of the authorised account published by Staunton in 1797, three years after the embassy's return.

This bibliography is a record of British relations with Tibet in the period from 1765 to 1947. It also provides background information to Tibet's claims to independence, an issue of current importance. The work is divided into a number of sections and subsections, based on chronology, geography and events. The introductions to each of the sections provide a condensed and informative history of the period and place the books and articles in their historical context. This work is both a history and a bibliography of the subject, and provides a rapid entry into a complex area for scholars in the fields of international relations and military history as well as Asian history.