Mennie published a handsome, limited edition book in 1926 called The Grandeur of the Gorges which contained fifty photographs and photogravures. He took the pictures during two trips on the upper Yangtze River in China: the first on a steamer from Ichang to Chungking, during poor weather, and the second between Ichang and Wan Hsien. The book ends at Chungking, 'the great metropolis of Western China', 1,400 miles from the sea. His apocalyptic vision of the city is seen across the 700 yard stretch of turbulent water where the current was so strong it could take an hour to cross. Between the angry, storm filled sky, and the reflecting, threatening water, the scale of the city is compacted into a strange and ominous shape.