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Until the nineteenth century, the investigation of natural phenomena, plants and animals was considered either the preserve of elite scholars or a pastime for the leisured upper classes. As increasing academic rigour and systematisation was brought to the study of 'natural history', its subdisciplines were adopted into university curricula, and learned societies (such as the Royal Horticultural Society, founded in 1804) were established to support research in these areas. A related development was strong enthusiasm for exotic garden plants, which resulted in plant collecting expeditions to every corner of the globe, sometimes with tragic consequences. This series includes accounts of some of those expeditions, detailed reference works on the flora of different regions, and practical advice for amateur and professional gardeners.

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222 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Botany and Horticulture

Page 5 of 12

The Uses of Plants
  • A Manual of Economic Botany with Special Reference to Vegetable Products Introduced during the Last Fifty Years
  • George Simonds Boulger
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
  • An eminent botanist and natural historian, George Simonds Boulger (1853–1922) wrote a number of books on plant life in the British Isles. He published this concise work in 1889. It opens with a brief survey of the progress made in economic botany over the years, particularly in the period 1837–87. Boulger then notes the commercial application of plants across many fields, notably food production, medicine, and the building trade. Common and botanical names are given, followed by succinct descriptions of each plant. Including both a general and synoptical index, this accessible resource can be read with profit alongside John Jackson's Commercial Botany of the Nineteenth Century (1890) and Boulger's Wood: A Manual of the Natural History and Industrial Applications of the Timbers of Commerce (1902), both of which are reissued in this series.

Flora atlantica
  • Sive historia plantarum quae in Atlante, agro Tunetano et Algeriensi crescunt
  • Volume 3, Plates
  • René Louiche Desfontaines
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
    First published in:
    1798
  • A member, and later president, of the Académie des Sciences, French botanist and doctor René Louiche Desfontaines (1750–1833) spent the years 1783–5 on an expedition to North Africa. During his time in Tunisia and Algeria, he collected over a thousand plant specimens: more than three hundred genera were new to European naturalists at this time. Having succeeded Le Monnier in the chair of botany at the Jardin du Roi in 1786, Desfontaines helped found the Institut de France following the Revolution and published his two-volume Flora atlantica in Latin in 1798–9. A lavishly illustrated second edition appeared in four volumes in 1800. Combining its two volumes of plates into one, this reissue will give modern researchers an insight into the promulgation of pioneering plant science. Volume 3 brings together all 261 line engravings from the volumes that accompanied the botanical catalogue.

Self-Instruction for Young Gardeners, Foresters, Bailiffs, Land-Stewards, and Farmers
  • With a Memoir of the Author
  • John Claudius Loudon
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    19 September 2013
  • Intended for young men with limited formal education, this manual was the final project of the landscape gardener John Claudius Loudon (1783–1843). Completed by friends, the book appeared posthumously in 1845. The son of a farmer, Loudon was well aware that men who began their careers as gardeners often became the stewards of estates, bailiffs, or tenant farmers later in life, and he provides here some of the mathematical and technical instruction necessary to carry out those roles successfully. Including sections on fractions, geometry, trigonometry, architectural drawing, and the calculation of wages and interest rates, the book traces a remarkable picture for the modern reader of the administrative duties expected of horticultural and agricultural workers in the mid-nineteenth century. Also included are conversion tables, a biography of Loudon, and a short preface by his wife Jane, whose Instructions in Gardening for Ladies (1840) is also reissued in this series.

The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland
  • Volume 6
  • Henry John Elwes, Augustine Henry
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • Although without formal scientific training, Henry John Elwes (1846–1922) devoted his life to natural history. He had studied birds, butterflies and moths, but later turned his attention to collecting and growing plants. Embarking on his most ambitious project in 1903, he recruited the Irish dendrologist Augustine Henry (1857–1930) to collaborate with him on this well-illustrated work. Privately printed in seven volumes between 1906 and 1913, it covers the varieties, distribution, history and cultivation of tree species in the British Isles. The strictly botanical parts were written by Henry, while Elwes drew on his extensive knowledge of native and non-native species to give details of where remarkable examples could be found. Each volume contains photographic plates as well as drawings of leaves and buds to aid identification. The species covered in Volume 6 (1912) include spruce, juniper, laburnum, cherry, mulberry and gum trees.

A Selection of the Correspondence of Linnaeus, and Other Naturalists
  • From the Original Manuscripts
  • Volume 1
  • Edited by James Edward Smith
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • After the death of the younger Carl Linnaeus in 1783, the entirety of the Linnean collections, including the letters received by the elder Linnaeus from naturalists all over Europe, was purchased by the English botanist James Edward Smith (1759–1828), later co-founder and first president of the Linnean Society of London. In 1821, Smith published this two-volume selection of the letters exchanged by Linnaeus père et fils and many of the leading figures in the study of natural history, revealing some of the close ties of shared knowledge and affection that bound the European scientific community at that time. Where necessary, Smith translates the letters into English, with the exception of those written in French, which are presented in the original. Volume 1 illuminates the epistolary relationships of Linnaeus senior with Peter Collinson, John Ellis and Alexander Garden, providing a very brief biography of each. Garden's letters to Ellis also feature prominently.

The Abridgement of the Gardener's Dictionary
  • Containing the Best and Newest Methods of Cultivating and Improving the Kitchen, Fruit, Flower Garden, and Nursery
  • Philip Miller
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 February 2014
  • Trained by his father, a market gardener, Philip Miller (1691–1771) rose to become Britain's most eminent horticulturalist in the eighteenth century. Following a period as a nurseryman in Southwark, he was appointed the head gardener of the Chelsea Physic Garden by the Society of Apothecaries in 1722, upon the recommendation of Sir Hans Sloane. Under Miller's supervision, the diversity of plants at Chelsea outstripped that of all other European botanic gardens. His talent was equally reflected in his writings. Miller's most famous work, The Gardener's Dictionary, ran to eight editions during his lifetime, as did his celebrated abridgement, reissued here in its 1771 sixth edition. Ranging widely in coverage from agriculture to winemaking, as well as incorporating traditional gardening topics, the work reflects the progress of contemporary plant science and the breadth of knowledge acquired by one of its foremost practitioners.

Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and Andes
  • Being Records of Travel on the Amazon and its Tributaries, the Trombetas, Rio Negro, Uaupés, Casiquiari, Pacimoni, Huallaga and Pastasa
  • Volume 1
  • Richard Spruce
  • Edited by Alfred Russel Wallace
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 February 2014
  • Having previously embarked on a collecting expedition to the Pyrenees, backed by Sir William Hooker and George Bentham, the botanist Richard Spruce (1817–93) travelled in 1849 to South America, where he carried out unprecedented exploration among the diverse flora across the northern part of the continent. After his death, Spruce's writings on fifteen fruitful years of discovery were edited as a labour of love by fellow naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), whom Spruce had met in Santarém. This two-volume work, first published in 1908, includes many of the author's exquisite illustrations. Showing the determination to reach plants in almost inaccessible areas, Spruce collected hundreds of species, many with medicinal properties, notably the quinine-yielding cinchona tree, as well as the datura and coca plants. Volume 1 contains Wallace's biographical introduction and a list of Spruce's published works. The narrative includes discussion of Pará, Santarém, and the Negro and Orinoco rivers.

Kew Gardens
  • Or, A Popular Guide to the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew
  • William Jackson Hooker
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
  • The eminent British botanist Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785–1865) expanded and developed the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew into a world-leading centre of research and conservation. Appointed its first full-time director in 1841, Hooker came to Kew following a highly successful period in the chair of botany at Glasgow University. He quickly began to extend the gardens, arranging for the building of the now famous Palm House and establishing the Museum of Economic Botany. This volume reissues Hooker's popular guides to the gardens (sixteenth edition) and to the museum (third edition), both published in 1858. Illustrated throughout, these documents reveal the areas and specimens accessible to a receptive Victorian public. Hooker's ten volumes of Icones Plantarum (1837–54) have also been reissued in this series, along with many works by his son and equally accomplished successor, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911).

An Historical Account of Coffee
  • With an Engraving, and Botanical Description of the Tree
  • John Ellis
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    16 October 2013
  • This tract, which first appeared in 1774, considers the characteristics, cultivation and uses of the coffee plant. Its author, John Ellis (c.1710–76), was a botanist and zoologist who from 1770 to 1776 served as a London agent for the government of Dominica. Published in order to promote the prosperity of the island, the work reflects the difficulties faced by the coffee growers. Ellis begins by describing the flower and fruit of the coffee plant. He then presents his historical survey, drawing on contemporaneous travel writing to illuminate coffee-related practices around the globe. The narrative takes in the plant's early uses in Arabia, its cultivation in the colonies, and the growth of coffee houses in Europe. This reissue also contains a 1770 work by Ellis which gives instructions on transporting plants overseas. Reissued elsewhere in this series is The Early History of Coffee Houses in England (1893).

Flora atlantica
  • Sive historia plantarum quae in Atlante, agro Tunetano et Algeriensi crescunt
  • Volume 1
  • René Louiche Desfontaines
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    05 September 2013
  • A member, and later president, of the Académie des Sciences, French botanist and doctor René Louiche Desfontaines (1750–1833) spent the years 1783–5 on an expedition to North Africa. During his time in Tunisia and Algeria, he collected over a thousand plant specimens: more than three hundred genera were new to European naturalists at this time. Having succeeded Le Monnier in the chair of botany at the Jardin du Roi in 1786, Desfontaines helped found the Institut de France following the Revolution and published his two-volume Flora atlantica in Latin in 1798–9. A lavishly illustrated second edition appeared in four volumes in 1800. Combining its two volumes of plates into one, this reissue will give modern researchers an insight into the promulgation of pioneering plant science. Volume 1 contains the first thirteen classes of plants in the Linnaean system of taxonomy, from Monandria to Polyandria.

A Dictionary of the Economic Products of India
  • Volume 6, Tectona to Zygophillum and Index, Part 4
  • George Watt
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • A Scottish doctor and botanist, George Watt (1851–1930) had studied the flora of India for more than a decade before he took on the task of compiling this monumental work. Assisted by numerous contributors, he set about organising vast amounts of information on India's commercial plants and produce, including scientific and vernacular names, properties, domestic and medical uses, trade statistics, and published sources. Watt hoped that the dictionary, 'though not a strictly scientific publication', would be found 'sufficiently accurate in its scientific details for all practical and commercial purposes'. First published in six volumes between 1889 and 1893, with an index volume completed in 1896, the whole work is now reissued in nine separate parts. Volume 6, Part 4 (1893) contains entries from Tectona grandis (the common teak tree) to Zygophillum simplex (a flowering plant found in Sindh and the Punjab). The index to the entire work is included as an appendix.

The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland
  • Volume 7
  • Henry John Elwes, Augustine Henry
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • Although without formal scientific training, Henry John Elwes (1846–1922) devoted his life to natural history. He had studied birds, butterflies and moths, but later turned his attention to collecting and growing plants. Embarking on his most ambitious project in 1903, he recruited the Irish dendrologist Augustine Henry (1857–1930) to collaborate with him on this well-illustrated work. Privately printed in seven volumes between 1906 and 1913, it covers the varieties, distribution, history and cultivation of tree species in the British Isles. The strictly botanical parts were written by Henry, while Elwes drew on his extensive knowledge of native and non-native species to give details of where remarkable examples could be found. Each volume contains photographic plates as well as drawings of leaves and buds to aid identification. The species covered in Volume 7 (1913) include lime, box, willow, poplar and elm. The work's index appeared separately in 1913 but is now incorporated in this volume.

A Dictionary of the Economic Products of India
  • Volume 6, Sabadilla to Silica, Part 2
  • George Watt
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • A Scottish doctor and botanist, George Watt (1851–1930) had studied the flora of India for more than a decade before he took on the task of compiling this monumental work. Assisted by numerous contributors, he set about organising vast amounts of information on India's commercial plants and produce, including scientific and vernacular names, properties, domestic and medical uses, trade statistics, and published sources. Watt hoped that the dictionary, 'though not a strictly scientific publication', would be found 'sufficiently accurate in its scientific details for all practical and commercial purposes'. First published in six volumes between 1889 and 1893, with an index volume completed in 1896, the whole work is now reissued in nine separate parts. Volume 6, Part 2 (1893) contains entries from Sabadilla (an imported plant, the seeds of which produce a neurotoxin) to silica (used in the production of glass).

Commercial Botany of the Nineteenth Century
  • John R. Jackson
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    13 February 2014
  • The nineteenth century witnessed great advances in technology which made transporting natural resources overseas significantly easier. At the centre of a global empire, Britain felt the full economic benefits of introducing and cultivating a range of commercial plants both domestically and in her colonies abroad. First published in 1890, this succinct work by the English botanist John Reader Jackson (1837–1920) surveys these plants. The concise descriptions are enhanced by instructive drawings of significant species. The introduction also contains a chronological table of the century's most important developments in commercial botany. This is followed by chapters organised according to the applications of plants, notably in food, drink, medicine, and the building trade. Jackson points out the species which revolutionised these industries, identifying those at the heart of rapidly growing markets. The coverage includes many commodities which remain commercially significant, such as palm oil, sugar cane, and cotton.

The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland
  • Volume 1
  • Henry John Elwes, Augustine Henry
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • Although without formal scientific training, Henry John Elwes (1846–1922) devoted his life to natural history. He had studied birds, butterflies and moths, but later turned his attention to collecting and growing plants. Embarking on his most ambitious project in 1903, he recruited the Irish dendrologist Augustine Henry (1857–1930) to collaborate with him on this well-illustrated work. Privately printed in seven volumes between 1906 and 1913, it covers the varieties, distribution, history and cultivation of tree species in the British Isles. The strictly botanical parts were written by Henry, while Elwes drew on his extensive knowledge of native and non-native species to give details of where remarkable examples could be found. Each volume contains photographic plates as well as drawings of leaves and buds to aid identification. The species covered in Volume 1 (1906) include beech, spruce and yew.

Botanical Lectures
  • And The Florist's Manual
  • Maria Elizabetha Jacson
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • This reissue contains two works by the botanist Maria Elizabetha Jacson (1755–1829), a Cheshire clergyman's daughter. Her interest in science, and especially botany, may have been encouraged by a family connection with Erasmus Darwin, but it was not until she was in her forties that domestic circumstances drove her to professional writing. In 1797 she published Botanical Dialogues, between Hortensia and her Four Children, an introduction to the Linnaean system for use in schools. This technically rather demanding work was recast for adults in 1804 as Botanical Lectures: 'a complete elementary system, which may enable the student of whatever age to surmount those difficulties, which hitherto have too frequently impeded the perfect acquirement of this interesting science'. The more practical Florist's Manual (1816) was aimed at female gardeners, offering advice on garden design and the war against pests as well as notes on plants and cultivation.

The New Practical Window Gardener
  • Being Practical Directions for the Cultivation of Flowering and Foliage Plants in Windows and Glazed Cases, and the Arrangement of Plants and Flowers for the Embellishment of the Household
  • John Mollison
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    04 July 2013
    First published in:
    1877
  • The later nineteenth century saw a dramatic increase in the popularity of domestic gardening and the cultivation of plants and flowers in the home. Largely a middle-class pursuit, it caught the attention of writers and publishers who recognised and nurtured the growing demand for advice. This detailed guide first appeared in 1877 and was written for those living in towns and cities who, without substantial gardens, cultivated plants mainly in their windows. The author, John R. Mollison, intended for it to be 'understood by all', and advises on matters ranging from suitable vases, window boxes, hanging baskets and soil, to watering methods, insect prevention and the labelling of specimens, while also discussing the health-related pros and cons of keeping plants in the home. Complete with an alphabetical list of suitable species, and illustrated with a host of wood engravings, this attractive resource will interest both gardening enthusiasts and social historians.

Flowers of the Field
  • Volume 1
  • Charles Alexander Johns
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • A keen collector and sketcher of plant specimens from an early age, the author, educator and clergyman Charles Alexander Johns (1811–74) gained recognition for his popular books on British plants, trees, birds and countryside walks. The Forest Trees of Britain (1847–9), one of several works originally published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, is also reissued in this series. First published by the Society in 1851, Johns' best-known work is this two-volume botanical guide to common British flowering plants. Following the Linnaean system of classification, Johns describes the various plant families, providing the common and Latin names for each species. The work is especially noteworthy for its delicate and meticulous line drawings, based on watercolours by the botanical artist Emily Stackhouse and the author's sisters Julia and Emily. Volume 1 includes an introduction to the Linnaean system and the botanical terms used in the text.

The Tourist's Flora
  • A Descriptive Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of the British Islands, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and the Italian Islands
  • Jospeh Woods
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    22 August 2013
  • By the middle of the nineteenth century, botany was a popular amateur pursuit as well as a rapidly developing science. First published in 1850, this catalogue covers the flora of Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy - the most popular tourist destinations of the period. It was compiled over several years by Joseph Woods (1776–1864), who was an architect by profession but also an avid botanist and contributor to the Transactions of the Linnean Society. Taking care to clearly define his terms in the still-developing botanical lexicon, Woods includes hundreds of entries and technical descriptions. A testament to the contemporary market for scholarly amateur guides, this rigorous publication is the product of the author's lifelong interest and a retirement devoted to painstaking study. It remains an instructive resource for those interested in the history and dissemination of plant science.

Catalogus bibliothecæ historico-naturalis Josephi Banks
  • Volume 5, Supplementum et index auctorum
  • Jonas Dryander
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    27 March 2014
  • Following his stint as the naturalist aboard the Endeavour on James Cook's pioneering voyage, Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820) became a pre-eminent member of the scientific community in London. President of the Royal Society from 1778, and a friend and adviser to George III, Banks significantly strengthened the bonds between the practitioners and patrons of science. Between 1796 and 1800, the Swedish botanist and librarian Jonas Dryander (1748–1810) published this five-volume work recording the contents of Banks' extensive library. The catalogue was praised by many, including the distinguished botanist Sir James Edward Smith, who wrote that 'a work so ingenious in design and so perfect in execution can scarcely be produced in any science'. Volume 5 (1800) contains a list of works from the first four volumes indexed by author, as well as a supplementary list of those items that were acquired after the publication of the previous volumes.

Page 5 of 12