Synopses & Reviews
From geraniums to begonias, the common plants that often adorn backyard gardens are rarely native to our region. The same goes for many of the diverse and delicious fruits and vegetables that grace our dinner tables. We take their accessibility and ubiquity for granted, unaware of the great debt we owe to the naturalists and explorers who traveled around the world in search of these then unusual plants and brought back samples and seeds — along with fantastic stories. In
The Plant Hunters, Carolyn Fry pays homage to those whose obsession with plants gave rise to our own passion for botanicals and gardening.
Lavishly illustrated with more than one hundred images from the archives at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, The Plant Hunters offers an accessible history of plant exploration and discovery through short, informative entries. From the naturalists of Alexander the Great's entourage to pioneering botanists such as Joseph Hooker, Joseph Banks, and Alexander von Humboldt, Fry's history covers the globe in its celebration of our fascination with plants. She shows how coconut trees and numerous fruits and vegetables were spread from one country to many, and the significant role that newly discovered plants, including tulips, tea, and rubber, have played in economic history. The Plant Hunters also traces the establishment of botanical gardens and the many uses of plants in medicine. In addition to stunning botanical drawings, the book features several unique facsimiles, including a letter from Carl Linnaeus, the father of taxonomy; extracts from Joseph Hooker's notebooks; an extract from the orchid sketchbook of John Day; and an original map of Kew Gardens made in 1740 by Jean Rocque.
This gorgeous and entertaining history will be a perfect gift for gardeners, and anyone fascinated by the intersection of the histories of science and discovery.
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and#8220;In The Plant Hunters, Carolyn Fry sketches out humankindand#8217;s enduring hunger for botanical riches. She steps back 3,500 years to Ancient Egypt, then visits different parts of the globe and celebrates the contributions of important personalities like Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks. This journey is told through a series of lavishly illustrated two-page spreads, each distilling an episode in the history of plant collecting down to its most engaging details. . . . Full of fun facts, intriguing asides.and#8221;
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and#160;and#8220;Fryand#8217;s lavish book . . . takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the human history of the botanical world.and#8221;
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"From ancient Egypt to 17th-century tulipomania to Joseph Hooker in the Himalaya to modern-day seed stockpiling, this handsome slipcased book is a delight."
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Scholarly, Academic and Reference Books category British Book Design and Production Award
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"In this fascinating book, Carolyn Fry records the adventures of plant explorers around the globe, those individuals responsible for initial discoveries in exotic locales, botanical artists responsible for illustrations, and modern scientists focusing on the care of plants and the conservation of endangered species. Removable, facsimile documents, secured in envelopes within the text block, provide intriguing information for the reader." Winner
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and#8220;Delightfully, the book includes pouches filled with facsimile documents, like sketches of rare orchids. Itand#8217;s like finding precious leaves pressed between the pages.and#8221;
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and#8220;Exciting. As an account of the lives and dedication of these (mostly) French missionaries and plant discoverers, Fathers of Botany will be of wide interest. A fascinating account of some very frightful situations.and#8221;
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and#8220;Remarkable Plants is readable and engaging. There is much discussion of species beyond 'the usual suspects' which appear in books on plants aimed at the general reader. A fantastic range of visual material.and#8221;
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and#8220;This is a superior article. The botanist author has selected numerous rare or unpublished flower painting from Kewand#8217;s own collection, while the text is a jog through the history of botanical art, with an emphasis on plant collecting. . . . This has to be the prize garden gift book of the year.and#8221;and#160;
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and#8220;Not just a collection of beautiful paintings from ancient frescoes to the present day, but also a series of fascinating essays about plant hunters and the artists who recorded their discoveries. The paintings, most of them from the collection at Kew, many never reproduced before, are invariably wonderful.and#8221;and#160;
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"A wonderful history book . . . sure to be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in natural history art."
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"A celebration of both extraordinarily beautiful plant life and the globe-trotting men and women who found and recorded it, The Golden Age of Botanical Art will enchant gardeners and art lovers alike."
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"Rixand#8217;s superb book is extremely handsome. It is a mine of concise observation, resting on his rare expertise."
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and#8220;Peschak makes an eloquent visual case for the sublimity of sharksand#8212;and also for their conservation. He notes that the media still devotes far more attention to rare shark attacks than to the urgent need to protect them from human depredation, especially the shark fin trade. . . . Great conservation photography like Peschak's, one must hope, will have the power to change attitudes globally.and#8221;
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and#8220;This coffee-table volume with its fine photography is a visual treat as well as a plea for conservation of predator species that are essential for the health of marine ecosystems. Recommended.and#8221;
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"A gloriously illustrated celebration of the history, utility, diversity, and sheer wonder of the botanical world that powers our planet."
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and#8220;A sumptuously illustrated volume.and#8221;
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and#8220;Maps of Paradise is a highly readable yet deeply learned journey into how and#8216;humankind has yearned for a timeless elsewhereand#8217;, searching for and#8216;perfect bliss, remote either in time or in space.and#8217;and#8221;
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and#8220;Numerous beautiful color illustrations make this book a visual treat, and each chapter contains a and#8216;Visual Interlude,and#8217; which gives a close analysis of a particular cartographic image. [It] will be very welcome to students and to learned amateurs who would like to explore this fascinating topic.and#8221;
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This overview of the botanical world takes the usefulness of plants to humans as its starting point. Key plantsandmdash;10 or so in each categoryandmdash;are divided into medicines, materials, foods and flavours, with brief and elegant essays devoted to topics such as olives, asparagus, hops, aloe, flax, bamboo and wheat.
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andldquo;Remarkable Plants That Shape Our World is a quietly lavish book that gathers together the history of human use of a wide array of plants world-wide. The book is divided into sections, treating plants used as major food crops, spices, drugs, building materials, cash crops, ornamentals, sacred plants and, in a fun final flourish, curiosities. . . . A candy box for the curious.andquot;
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andquot;Enough verve for a wider audience yet enough scholarship for students and academics. . . . a visually impressive and thought-provoking study showing how people perceived, situated, and mapped Eden over time.andquot;
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andldquo;Enough verve for a wider audience yet enough scholarship for students and academandshy;ics. . . . The result is a visually impressive and thought-provoking study showing how people perceived, situated, and mapped Eden over time. . . . Because the notion of paradise is so long lived in Western thought, Scafi is able to write both an intellectual history and a history of cartography following one idea through time. Maps of Paradise serves as a wonderful and colorful adjunct to those who already have his similar 2006 work Mapping Paradise; it is a great introduction for those who are unfamiliar with Scafiandrsquo;s earlier work.andrdquo;
About the Author
Carolyn Fry is a journalist and a former editor of
Geographical, the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society. She lives in the United Kingdom.