FORTUNE, Robert.

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A Journey to the Tea-Countries of China, Including Sung-Lo and the Bohea Hills; First edition of this account of the famous plant-hunter's expedition to China, during which he collected specimens that were rapidly brought into cultivation in Darjeeling. The title page is inscribed by the American tea merchant Richard Devens to John Hanna, the Tianjin representative of the trading company Dent & Co.Robert Fortune (1812-1880) was a botanist and the most famous British plant-hunter of the Victorian era. He first journeyed to China in 1843 to collect plants for the Royal Horticultural Society, returning to the country in 1848 on behalf of the East India Company to procure silver-tipped tea. The present work recounts this second adventure: "At that time, China was the only source of the best quality tea, and the Chinese were determined to keep their monopoly - the penalty for smuggling tea was death by beheading... Fortune disguised himself as an official from the imperial palace, and with the help of local workers over the course of three years he was able to collect more than 20,000 plants" (Allaby, p. 105).Devens was an old hand in the China tea trade, having entered the market during the period when Houqua (1769-1843) dominated commerce at Canton. In 1852, he established an import company in Boston and split his time between the US and China. Dent & Co. was likewise an active player in international tea markets.

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