Daniel Cady Eaton (1834-1895) was a rigorous and important 19th century American botanists. He studied at Harvard University under noted botanists Asa Grey and later became a professor of botany and curator of the herbarium at Yale University. His one publication for a general audience was on a grand scale: “Beautiful Ferns from Original Water-color Drawings after Nature” (1882). This is a book to enjoy in the parlor, introducing ferns to an audience unlikely to find them by tromping in the woods. While Eaton’s writing remains academic, he occasionally digresses from his usual rather dry text, for example to describe the Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) as “one of our finest ferns.”
The illustrations are what makes this book special. The lead artist of these drawings was Charles Edward Faxon (1846-1918); a prominent American botanical illustrator based at Harvard who is best known for illustrating the 14 volume “The Silva of North America” that was written by Charles Sprague Sargent.
Excerpted from the Spring 2020 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin