I had a really nice and unexpected late present from a friend of the family on New Years Day, a first edition hardback copy of The Life of Gordon, published in 1896 and written by a gentleman by the name of Demetrius C. Boulger, no less. It’s in pretty good condition and has some very nice plates with photographs and sketches of Chinese Gordon himself. I’m particularly interested in the latter chapters of the book, dealing as they do with his time in Africa and especially the Sudan. What a nice present and completely out of the blue!