The Trees of North America: Michaux and Redoute's American Masterpiece

2018 American Horticultural Society Book Award Winner

A remarkable selection of American forest trees surveyed by Francois-Andre Michaux and Thomas Nuttall from The North American Sylva, held in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of The New York Botanical Garden, featuring illustrations by celebrated botanical artists such as Pierre-Joseph Redoute and Pancrace Bessa, with an afterword by natural history artist David Allen Sibley
Francois-Andre Michaux (1770-1855) was a French botanist whose work on the trees of North America gave the world's first illustrated account of American trees east of the Mississippi. From 1841 to 1849 Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859), an English botanist and one of the greatest plant explorers of North America, prepared supplementary volumes to Michaux's landmark work, The North American Sylva.
Full-color reproductions of all of the more than 270 plates are now included in a single volume for the first time. Mirroring Abbeville's best-selling National Audubon Society Birds of America, the book includes capsule summaries of every tree species featured, written by New York Botanical Garden staff, along with reference illustrations by David Allen Sibley.
Garden President Gregory Long looks at the book in the context of the New York Botanical Garden; NYBG Library Director Susan M. Fraser examines this landmark of American botanical history; award-winning garden writer Marta McDowell recounts the two botanist-explorers uncovering the continent's arboreal riches; and best-selling ornithologist and natural history artist David Allen Sibley offers an aesthetic appreciation.
Beautifully illustrated and extensively researched, The Trees of North America will entice gardeners, art connoisseurs, and nature lovers alike.

"This handsome volume has historical aesthetic and horticultural value. The New York Botanical Garden's rare book collection has yielded here a new edition of the landmark volumes by 19th century botanists François André Michaux and Thomas Nuttall that first catalogued North American trees. Renowned 19th century botanical artist Pierre Joseph Redouté supplied many of the original hand colored illustrations and contemporary botanical artist David Allen Sibley's accompanying essay illuminates the process of reproducing botanical illustrations and also draws the eye to tiny technical details. Other contextualizing essays help explain the significance of this remarkable work but the bulk of the book is the series of illustrated plates—a visual compendium of all American maples oaks pines elms ash and many more—rich in subtle detail. Anyone with eyes to see the art of nature will appreciate this beautiful book. 270 color illus. (May) " Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Francois Andre Michaux (1770-1855) was a French botanist whose work on the trees of North America gave the world's first illustrated account of American trees east of the Mississippi. From 1841 to 1849 the English botanist and one of the greatest plant explorers of North America, Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859), prepared supplementary volumes to Michaux's landmark work, The North American Sylva. More than 150 years after the final publication, this volume includes full-color reproductions of all of the more than 270 plates in a single volume for the first time.
Mirroring Abbeville's best-selling National Audubon Society Birds of America, the book includes capsule summaries of every species featured, written by New York Botanical Garden curators, along with reference paintings of the trees and range maps by one of the world's best-known natural history illustrators, David Allen Sibley. Garden President Gregory Long provides a special foreword in honor of the Garden's 125th Anniversary in 2016. Sibley prefaces the book with an essay on the connection of art and natural history. Award-winning horticultural writer Marta McDowell relates the stories of explorer-scientists Michaux and Nuttall.