Marie-Jean-Léon, Marquis d'Hervey de Saint Denys

Marie-Jean-Léon Lecoq, Baron d'Hervey de Juchereau, Marquis d'Hervey de Saint-Denys (Chinese: 德理文; pinyin: Dé Lǐwén; 6 May 1822 – 2 November 1892) son of Alexandre Le Coq or Lecoq, Baron d'Hervey (1780-1844), and Mélanie Juchereau de Saint-Denys (1789-1844) was born on 6 May 1822. D'Hervey was a French sinologist. He made an intense study of Chinese, and in 1851 D'Hervey published his Recherches sur l'agriculture et l'horticulture des Chinois (Transl: Research on the agriculture and horticulture of the Chinese), in which he dealt with the plants and animals that potentially might be able to be acclimatized to and introduced in Western countries. He translated as well Chinese texts as some Chinese stories, not of classical interest, but valuable for the light they throw on Chinese culture and customs. He was a man of letters too. E.g. he translated some Spanish-language works and wrote a history of the Spanish drama. D'Hervey also created a literary translation theory, paraphrased by Joshua A. Fogel, the author of a book review on De l'un au multiple: Traductions du chinois vers les langues européenes, as "empowering the translator to use his own creative talents to embellish wherever necessary—not a completely free hand, but some leeway to avoid the pitfall of becoming too leaden."