Claudius Bombarnac, a reporter, is assigned by the Twentieth Century to cover the travels of the Grand Transasiatic Railway which runs between Uzun Ada, Turkestan and Peking, China. Accompanying him on this journey is an interesting collection of characters, including one who is trying to beat the round-the-world record and another who is a stowaway. Claudius hopes one of them will become the hero of his piece, so his story won't be just a boring travelogue. He is not disappointed when a special car guarded by troops is added to the train, said to be carrying the remains of a great Mandarin. The great Mandarin actually turns out to be a large consignment being returned to China from Persia. Unfortunately the train must travel through a large part of China that is controlled by unscrupulous robber-chiefs. Before the journey is over, Claudius finds his hero. [Kytasaari]

The dramatic front cover scene shows Bombarnac and two other passengers standing on a railway car platform, as one of them fires on a panther that was about to spring.

After serialization in Boy's Own, this tale was published by Sampson Low in October 1894; although the U. S. Book Co. copyrighted the tale on September 28th, and again on October 9th as SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, the book was not actually published in America until November, when Lovell Coryell issued it under the latter title, both in cloth and in wrappers (today an extremely scarce American edition).

This is an attractive, nearly fine copy (volume slightly askew, minor fading of the spine as one would expect with bright red cloth). We have not seen a better copy. Taves & Michaluk V040; Myers 11.