JEANCARD, Paul. L'Anatolie, Smyrne – Sparte – Bourdour – Hiérapolis – Le Dodécanèse, Paris, Librairie Française, 1919.

The French chemist Paul Jeancard (1869-1948) was born to family of perfume makers, whose presence in this trade dated back to 1780. Jeancard became head of the family business in 1894.

A capable engineer as well as a tireless traveller, Jeancard founded plantations, factories and subsidiaries in several parts of the world such as Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Spain, the USA, Mexico, India, Indochina, Japan and China. Alongside his commercial activity in these countries, he also did research on metallurgy. He won several distinctions and decorations, awarded by state and private institutions in France and other European countries.

Jeancard served in the French Army in 1914 as artillery officer. After becoming wounded, he retired, became professionally active in France and was regularly entrusted with missions by the French State. His range of activity reached to the Far East, where he also founded a bank. Jeancard was also the author of “La Chimie des Parfums”, a treatise on perfume chemistry, which earned him international acclaim. He also published this chronicle of a journey to the East, which he had visited before 1914.

Jeancard travelled in the southeastern Mediterranean, and subsequently in the region between Izmir and Isparta in the inland of Asia Minor, from April to June (year unspecified). The wood engravings and water colours which illustrate this work were based on Jeancard's own drawings.

Written by Ioli Vingopoulou