The passing years leave few traces on the face of Hong Kong. Without the surviving photographic record – much of it recaptured in the pages of this splendidly illustrated volume – there would be little to remind us of the very different Hong Kong which served as prelude to the city that we know today. There, in an unlikely setting of quiet streets and shaded verandahs, of elegant mansions and grandly arcaded offices, the seeds were planted for the boundless ambitions that would – in good time – transform this mercantile community from a coastal backwater into one of the most remarkable cities of Asia.