Philippe Édouard Foucaux

Philippe Édouard Foucaux (15 September 1811 – 20 May 1894) was a French tibetologist. He published the first Tibetan grammar in French and occupied the first chair of Tibetan studies in Europe.

He was born in the town of Angers on 15 September to merchant family. At age 27 he left for Paris to study Indology with Eugène Burnouf. After becoming aware of the work of Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, he studied Tibetan by himself for two years. After this he was appointed as a Tibetan teacher at the École des langues orientales where he gave his inaugural lecture 31 January 1842. Funding for the position was canceled but Foucaux continued to instruct his students thereafter on a pro bono basis.

Foucaux was a member of the Sociéte d'Ethnographie. After France became the Second Empire, Foucaux was elected as a member of the Collège de France. Foucaux was married to Mary Summer, born Marie Filon, who also did work as a buddhologist. He was a corresponding member of the American Oriental Society from 1865.

Works
  • 1858 Grammaire de la langue tibétaine. Paris: L'imprimerie impériale.
  • 1858 Le trésor des belles paroles, choix de sentences composées en tibétain; suivies d'une élégie tirée du Kanjour. Paris: B. Duprat.
  • 1862 "Les tibétaines et la bière au beurre" Livre de Poche

Works about Foucaux
  • Le Calloc'h, Bernard. "Philippe-Edouard Foucaux: First Tibetan teacher in Europe." Tibet Journal 12.1 (1987): 39-49.
  • Le Calloc'h, Bernard. Un Angevin oublié, Philippe-Edouard Foucaux,le premier tibétologue français.
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