Bøger i Cambridge Library Collection - Botany and Horticulture serien

John Evelyn (1620-1706), diarist, gardener and founder member of the Royal Society, is best known for his Diary, the great journal of his times. Sylva, first published in 1664, was the first English-language treatise on forestry. This 1908 two-volume reissue is of the fourth edition published in the year of Evelyn's death.

Marianne North (1830-90), the Victorian botanist and painter, led a remarkable life, travelling independently to exotic locations to paint flora in their natural surroundings. This two-volume collection of her memoirs, edited by her sister and published in 1892, records her tropical journeys and the fascinating stories behind her art.

Sir Charles Bunbury (1809-86) was a distinguished botanist and geologist. He corresponded copiously with Lyell, Horner, Darwin and Hooker among others. This nine-volume edition of his letters and diaries was published privately by his wife Frances Horner and her sister Katherine Lyell between 1890 and 1893.

This world-famous series was begun by Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865) in 1837, and the ten volumes reissued here were produced under his authorship until 1854. Each volume contains 100 line drawings of plants, accompanied by a full Latin description, with notes in English on habitat and significant features.

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) was one of the most eminent botanists of the later nineteenth century and an important supporter and correspondent of Charles Darwin. This volume of the 1918 standard biography includes many letters to Darwin in which the two men debated the theory of natural selection.

George Bentham (1800-84) was one of Britain's most influential botanists whose seven-volume work detailing the plant life of Australia was published over the course of fifteen years. Volume 1, published in 1863, introduces the project and describes 39 orders of the dicotyledon class of flora.

Richard Pulteney (1730-1801) was a botanist and physician, influential in promoting the Linnaean system of classification in England. This 1790 two-volume examination of the development of botanical studies in Britain is still of great interest to botanists and garden historians.

Best known for designing the Crystal Palace, Paxton was head gardener at Chatsworth by the age of twenty-three. These volumes, published between 1850 and 1853, reflect not only the Victorians' interest in gardening, but also the extraordinary lengths to which they would go in search of the unusual.

Sir James Edward Smith (1759-1828) was highly regarded throughout Europe as a botanist, and in 1788 founded the Linnean Society. This two-volume memoir and selection of letters was edited by his wife and published in 1832. Volume 1 includes letters from Sir Joseph Banks and Samuel Goodenough, Smith's fellow-botanist.

Compiled by the celebrated Victorian botanist and explorer Joseph Hooker, this two-volume catalogue of flora in New Zealand was the first major study of plant life of the area. First published in 1867, Volume 2 continues Hooker's meticulous description and categorization of New Zealand flora.

Naturalist Ernest Henry Wilson (1876-1930) spent much of his career in China, collecting seeds and plant samples. In Volume 1 of this work of 1913, he describes his journey from Hupeh (Hubei), through Tibet, ending in Wa Wu Shan.

Sir Joseph Hooker (1817-1911) was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the nineteenth century. His journey to Northern India, the Himalayas, Nepal and Tibet was undertaken between 1847 and 1851 to collect some 7,000 specimens for the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew.

This 1913 work by writer Marion Cran combines prescriptive gardening advice with autobiography: 'I knew nothing at all of gardening; never did anyone know less.' In an entertaining narrative, she describes her journey from ignorance of plants themselves, soil types and planting aspects, to hands-on expertise and wild enthusiasm.

This 1821 book is written in William Cobbett's characteristically robust style: he starts by explaining how to establish a garden, discusses soil improvement and the building of hot-beds and greenhouses, and gives instruction on the propagation and cultivation of vegetables, fruit trees, and ornamental plants.

Among the many interests of Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau was botany. These letters 'addressed to a lady' on the Linnaean system and the structure of plants came to the attention of Thomas Martyn, professor of botany at the University of Cambridge, who published a translation and continuation in 1785.

John Lindley's 1829 classification of British plants, using the 'natural' system of the French botanist Jussieu, describes genera and species in English, using a uniform, standard vocabulary, and also offers tables showing the components of each genus, and indexes giving both Latin and English common names of the plants discussed.

In this 1830 work, important in the history of taxonomy, John Lindley (1799-1865) gives a 'systematic view of the organisation, natural affinities, and geographical distribution of the whole vegetable kingdom', as well as of the uses of plants 'in medicine, the arts, and rural or domestic economy'.

This 1892 book follows the fashion of late nineteenth-century works (often by women) which combine descriptions of gardens and gardening with historical and literary references. It is unusual in that its final chapter describes ways for educated 'gentlewomen' to enter gardening as a profession - a radical suggestion for the period.

Eleanor Vere Boyle (1825-1916), a talented artist as well as an author, who illustrated both poetry and books for children, published this work in 1895. It describes the sights, sounds and smells of her garden through the seasons, with frequent digressions on the weather, birds and animals.

William Marshall, an experienced farmer and land agent, published this work anonymously in 1785. It begins with instructions on propagation and planting out, followed by an alphabetical plant list (by Latin names) and advice on use of plants in the landscape, as timber for cutting, hedges, woodlands, and ornamental 'grounds'.

This treatise on the tea bush and the consumption of tea was published in 1772 by John Coakley Lettsom, physician and philanthropist. He describes the botany, processing and use of the plant; however, he concludes that it should be avoided, because its enervating effects lead to weakness and effeminacy.

The writer Mary Roberts developed an interest in natural history while growing up in the Gloucestershire countryside. Each chapter of this charming account of the ecology of a rural hamlet, published in 1831, considers a month of the year, and Roberts' observation of nature is enhanced by her considerable knowledge.

This two-volume work by botanist and author John Lindley (1799-1865) was published between 1834 and 1837. Lindley felt that there was a lack of books for people, especially women and girls, 'who would become acquainted with Botany as an amusement and a relaxation', and attempted to meet this need.

Henry Ernest Milner was the son of Edward Milner, a garden designer, but he did not begin working with his father until after a career as a civil engineer. In this 1890 book, he surveys the whole 'art and practice' of landscape gardening, from aesthetic theory to building and planting.

Written by physician and philanthropist John Coakley Lettsom, and reissued in its 1779 third edition, this work provides the traveller with advice on collecting and preserving scientific specimens, and on pursuing intellectual investigations. It offers a fascinating insight into the approach and expectations of the educated traveller in the eighteenth century.

This short work on the auricula by the plant geneticist Sir Rowland Biffen (1874-1949), published posthumously in 1951, contains a botanical account of the species, but also a social history of this most popular of 'florist's flowers'. It will be of interest to botanists and garden historians alike.

This treatise, on the gardening skills needed on a grand eighteenth-century agricultural estate, is reissued in its 1777 second edition. The coverage ranges from plants such as cabbages and turnips used as cattle feed to hothouse exotics such as pineapples, as well as delicacies such as asparagus and cultivated mushrooms.

This history of the public green spaces of London was published in 1898. John Sexby, the Chief Officer of Parks of the London County Council, describes spaces ranging from Hampstead Heath to small, disused churchyards, providing details of their former owners and use as well as their present condition.

The innovative gardener William Robinson (1838-1935) visited Paris in 1867 for the International Exposition. In this highly illustrated 1869 book, he describes the parks and gardens of Paris and its environs, and the fruit and vegetable farming which fed the famous Parisian food markets such as Les Halles.

The Scottish judge Lord Kames (1696-1782) was also keenly interested in agriculture, and published this influential book in 1776: reissued here is the 1779 second edition. This thoroughly practical work ends with a discussion of the 'imperfection of Scotch husbandry' and a proposal for 'a board for improving agriculture'.