FAUVEL, Albert-Auguste.

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Chinese Plants in Normandy. First appearance in pamphlet form, uncommon, of this investigation by the gifted linguist, botanist and cartographer Albert-Auguste Fauvel, revealing the widespread western cultivation of Asian plants made possible by the 19th century's great plant hunters. WorldCat records ten copies but none in the UK.In preparing this piece, first published in Volume 12, Number 4 of the China Review (1883), Fauvel (1851-1909) undertook a systematic study of the flora found in the gardens of family members and friends in his native Cherbourg. Using these findings, he explains why "the tourists, or globe trotters, who have visited... the pretty neighbourhood of Cherbourg in Normandy, have remarked the quantity of exotic plants found growing" (p. 1). He is a skilled botanist, attentive to the impact of the French climate on the many Chinese plants and trees he found.The consummate adventurer, Fauvel began his career in the French navy, following in the footsteps of his marine officer father who had participated in the voyage around the world of the Duc de Penthièvre and Comte Ludovic de Beauvoir. As a young man, Fauvel was forced to leave naval service due to poor eyesight but, as a fluent Chinese speaker, he was accepted into the Chinese Maritime Customs Service in 1872. The following year, he was posted to Chefoo in Shandong and compiled one of the first Western maps of the province in 1876.In addition to his linguistic and cartographic skills, Fauvel is credited

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