There has been much written about Robert Fortune, the mid-19th Century plant collector travelling in China and Japan. He was largely responsible for collecting tea plants, seeds, and tea-manufacturing technology for the East India Company and transporting that to Bengal to help establish the tea industry there, to the detriment of the Chinese industry. It was also forbidden by the Imperial Court, and if you search today, you will still find Fortune labelled a ‘plant thief’. Fortune also collected a very large number of other plants which now are found in gardens all over the word. He made five trips and wrote four books about his travels, and they are engaging, entertaining  and of real historical and horticultural interest.

An account of these books and Fortune’s travels can be found in the attachment. It is preceded by a modern diary extract which has a Fortune connection.