A miscellaneous series of letters from Asia, the Far East and occasionally elsewhere numbered 1-60. Most of the letters were exchanged between correspondents in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Manila, Melbourne, Penang, Point de Galle and Singapore, but there is also some correspondence with Great Britain and the United States. The authors are B.A. Barretto, G.A. Brooker, George Brown, W.A. Frederick Brown, John Cairns, C.S. Compton, W.G. Dickson, S. Drinker, Thomas Howard Fellows, M.M. Firth, John Henry Gray, David Jardine, Joseph Jardine, Jardine, Skinner & Co., Pursetjee Jamsetjee, Heerjeebhoy Jehangir, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, William Keswick, Captain Thomas Larkins, C. Lyall, George Lyall, R. Lyall, Donald Matheson, Dr Edward Menzies, G. James Morrison, Frederick Porter, D. Ruttomjee, C.B. Skinner, Donald Spence, C.T. Still, J. Whittall and C.A. Winchester. The principal recipients are J.C. Bowring, David Jardine, Joseph Jardine and Donald Matheson, but there are also letters to 'Betsy', A.G. Dallas, Andrew Jardine, Robert Jardine, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, William Keswick, A. Matheson, M.C. Hunter & Co., John Skinner, Tsai Hu Yung, Peter Young and Mrs Young. Item number 19 is a petition from Canton merchants to John Bowring. Many of the letters are manuscript originals, but there are also press copies and typescripts. The correspondence is accompanied by a modern index of the authors entitled 'Letters. East - General', followed by a calendar of the letters' contents.