FAUVEL, Albert-Auguste.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Province du Shantung, Chine. First edition of a rare 19th-century map of Shandong province by a French official well-travelled in the region, this copy with the cartographer's ownership inscription and meticulous annotations reflecting subsequent industrial, technological, and geopolitical changes in Shandong. Only three copies are recorded in institutional collections globally, and this unique embellished example records the scale of foreign influence in late imperial China.Born in Cherbourg, Albert-Auguste Fauvel (1851-1909) began his career in the French navy, following in the footsteps of his marine officer father who had participated in the voyage round 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.While in Shandong, he travelled widely across the province on customs business - experience which allowed him to compile this map and the plans of the city of Chefoo and its environs inset at the top-left and bottom-right. Fauvel's map is extremely detailed, noting place names, different administrative grades of cities, towns and villages, topographic features, prefecture boundaries, important raw materials and minerals, canals, and routes navigable by wagon and on horseback. The map is dedicated to Robert Hart, the head of th

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