Page 140 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art Nov 2013 Hong Kong

The Property of a Gentleman (lots 330-332)
330
Soong Mei-Ling (Madame Chiang Kai-Shek)
Sian: A Coup d’État
FIRST EDITION de luxe bound in hardback, printed in China by Kelly
& Walsh Ltd., Shanghai, 1937, printed on specially-prepared Chinese
handmade paper made from bamboo fibre, the Chinese characters on
the silk cover presenting a translation of the titles in the Generalissimo’s family in Shanghai. John met and married her when he was stationed in
own calligraphy, signed by the author with an impressed four-character
seal mark in red ink, followed by a free-flowing cursive-script signature
presumably from the previous owner, also featuring a chapter with
historical extracts taken from Chiang Kai-Shek’s diary, totalling one
hundred and ninety-nine pages.
24.8cm high; 18.4cm wide.
HK$8,000 - 12,000
US$1,000 - 1,500
蔣宋美齡（1898-2003）藏書一冊 《西安兵變記：西安兩週日記節錄》
Provenance 來源：
Given to John P. Reeves Esq., O.B.E., the British Consul of Macau
Thence by direct descent to the current owner
John Pownall Reeves, born in London on 7 April 1909, was arguably
one of the most important figures in Hong Kong and Macau between
the years 1942-1945 during the Second World War. A vice-consul of the
British Foreign Office in Macau at that time, he was tasked to secure and
hold the British Foreign Office and outpost in Macau during the outbreak
of war.
It was not an easy task for a young diplomat, facing thousands upon
thousands of refugees from Hong Kong pouring into a small Portuguese
colony seeking salvation and asylum, especially when the Union Jack at
the British Foreign Office was the only British flag still flying between
India and Hawaii. Moreover, his wife was marooned in Hong Kong and
his only daughter was ill during those troubled times.
Reeves fortified the only British foothold left in the Far East, which
became a solitary symbol of hope for the Allied cause, whilst
transmitting to the British government news regarding Japanese
atrocities. He tried to help rebuild the lives of many by soliciting the
138 | Bonhams
foreign authorities to grant relief subsidies, including promoting welfare
and public charities, establishing medical dispensaries and English
language primary schools; as well as encouraging British subjects to join
the Macau police force.
John’s wife, Rhonda Murray-Kidd, was from a well-known aristocratic
Shanghai before relocating to Macao. It is then, John must have had the
pleasure of meeting Madame Chiang Kai-Shek within the socialite class
in Shanghai, and would no doubt have been given the personalised copy
of the book as a memoir.
The memoir of John P. Reeves, The Long Flag: Memoir of the British
Consul in Macao during World War II, edited by Colin Day and Richard
Garrett is to be published by Hong Kong University in 2014.
See another identical copy of Sian: A Coup d’Etat / A Fortnight in Sian:
Extracts From a Diary signed by Madame Chiang Kai-shek and with her
stamp; also signed by Chiang’s personal pilot Royal Leonard, Zhang’s
“head of operations” James C. Elder, and Zhang’s chief pilot Julius Barr,
sold in our New York rooms, The Xi’an Incident: The Papers of Hyland
“Bud” Lyon, 20 March 2013, lot 8.
《西安兵變記：西安兩週日記節錄》(Sian：A Coup d’Etat / A Fortnight
in Sian：Extracts From a Diary)。上海：中國出版公司（The China
Publishing Company）1937年發行。8vo尺寸，共119頁。中國手工竹漿
紙印製。書殼由絲綢包紙板，書名燙金，部分裝訂線鬆散，簽名頁與衬
頁有些許褪色，封面輕微磨損及皺褶。
帶有蔣宋美齡（蔣介石夫人）簽名及印璽，並由當時駐澳門英國領事約
翰·P·瑞福仕（John P. Reeves）署名。約翰生於1909年4月7日倫敦，在
1942年至1945年二戰期間在澳門任職英國駐澳門外事部副領事。在日
軍侵華期間，他不顧受困於香港的妻子及自己生病的女孩，極力抵抗請
略及救助難民，在當地及香港受到群眾擁戴。約翰的妻子倫娜·莫里·基
德出生於當時居住於上海的名門望族，而約翰及倫娜在移居澳門之前，
很有可能在上海與蔣宋美齡相識，並得此書以作紀念。
另一本亦同時由蔣宋美齡、以及蔣介石私人飛機駕駛雷耀·雷諾(Royal
Leonard)，蔣介石行動總策畫詹母士·奧德(James C. Elder)和蔣介石總機
師朱利斯·巴爾(Julius Barr)署名的同發行書籍，由紐約邦瀚斯2013年3月
20日，《海岚·里昂西安事变历史文件》拍賣中售出，編號8。