A Journey to the Tea Countries of China -
Robert Fortune
1852 - John Murray, London - First Edition
A superior and thus rare first edition of this scarce account by one of the greatest 19th century plant hunters. Fortune returned to China in 1848 on behalf of the East India Company to collect plants and seeds of the tea-shrub. The tea growing methods of the Chinese were secret so he had to disguise himself as a Chinese native, and by so doing, learnt their methods and also obtained large numbers of plants and seeds, which in 1851 he successfully introduced into the north-west provinces of India.
In this work Fortune provides excellent descriptions of Hong Kong and China, of Chinese customs, industry, language and flora, missionary activity, opium consumption, and the cultivation and processing of tea. With a full page map of China outlined in colour, and illustrated with three lithographic plates (two of which are tinted), extra woodcut title page, one full page woodcut, and 11 in-text woodcuts.  More Details
Price: HK$ 15,000 |
