A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA With Vasculum, Camera, and Gun. Being Some Account of Eleven Years' Travel, Exploration, and Observation in the More Remote Parts of the Flowery Kingdom.With an Introduction by Prof. Charles Sprague Sargent, LL.D.

2 volumes. First Edition, second issue dated 1914. Illustrated with 101 full-page illustrations and a large folding map. 8vo, publisher's original green lightly ribbed cloth, the spines and upper covers lettered and pictorially decorated in gilt. xxxvii, [1], 251; xi, [1], 229 [including index] pp. A pristine copy, as close to mint as might be imagined, the cloth, gilt, text-block and hinges all in excellent condition. Rare Thus.

Edizione: ernest henry "chinese" wilson, better known as e. h. wilson, was a notable british plant collector and explorer who introduced a large range of about 2000 asian plant species to the west; some sixty bear his name.<br> he left school early for employment at the local nursery of messrs. hewitt, warwickshire, as apprentice gardener, and, aged 16, at the birmingham botanical gardens; there he also studied at birmingham municipal technical school in the evenings, receiving the queen's prize for botany. in 1897 he began work at the royal botanic gardens, kew, where he won the hooker prize for an essay on conifers. he then accepted a position as chinese plant collector with the firm of james veitch & sons, who were eager above all to retrieve the dove tree, davidia involucrata. "stick to the one thing you are after," advised harry veitch, who had more than a dozen plant hunters on payroll, "and don't spend time and money wandering about. probably every worthwhile plant in china has now been introduced to europe."<br> after six months at veitch's coombe woods nursery, wilson travelled west towards china, stopping for five days at the arnold arboretum in boston, massachusetts, where he carried a letter of introduction to charles sprague sargent and studied techniques for shipping seeds and plants without damage. he continued across the us by train, and sailed from san francisco, reaching hong kong on 3 june 1899. sargent had suggested he head straight to simao to talk to augustine henry, who had seen a unique dove tree twelve years previously. though the tree had been recently cut down when wilson reached it, he rediscovered the specimens noticed by père david 600 km away in yichang, hubei. wilson collected for two years in hubei province, reaching isolated mountain valleys with an intrepid spirit that has made him legendary, before returning to england in april 1902 with seed of 305 species, and 35 wardian cases of bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and tubers, many of which veitch introduced into western commerce, as well as dried herbarium specimens, representing some 906 plant species.<br> in subsequent years he became a collector for sargent at the arnold arboretum, and made further expeditions to china in 1907, 1908, and 1910, as well as to japan (1911–1916), where he collected 63 named forms of cherry blossom. one of his footprints in japan is wilson's introduction of the gigantic "yaku sugi stump" called wilson stump ( , wilson kabu) in yakushima to western readers in 1914.<br> he returned to asia in 1917–1918, exploring in korea and formosa. upon return to the arnold arboretum in 1919 he was appointed associate director. three years later he set off for a two-year expedition through australia, new zealand, india, central and south america, and east africa. in 1927 he became keeper of the arnold arboretum.<br> in recognition of his service to horticulture he received many awards such as the royal horticultural society's veitch memorial medal in 1906 and their victoria medal of honour in 1912, and the george robert white memorial medal of the massachusetts horticultural society. he was a fellow of the american academy of arts and sciences and received an honorary m.a. degree from harvard university and a d.sc. degree from trinity college. over 100 plants introduced by wilson have received the first-class certificate or awards of merit of the royal horticultural society of london. sixty species and varieties of chinese plants bear his name. in 1916–1917 charles sprague sargent edited a partial list of his introductions as plantae wilsonianae.