The Witnessed Account of British Resident: John Dodd at Tamsui is a book essentially built around the diary of the British tea merchant and the hardships he faced as a result of a blockade by French forces taking part in the wider Sino-French War of the mid-1880s.
A valuable record of the period, to any history buff it is just as valuable for the numerous French military maps included at the front of the book many showing forts in and around the Keelung area that no longer appear on contemporary versions.
And as a “self-titled” history buff, and former military