Archives: Book Reviews

“A Herbal of Iraq” provides brief description of 50 plants used in that country’s ethnobotanical medicine.  Shahina A. Ghazanfar, editor of “Plants of the Qur’ān”, is co-editor along with Chris J. Thorogood and Rana Ibrahim.

Written in both English and Arabic, this book is based on the research and practices of Abdul Jaleel Ibrahim Al-Quragheely (1934-2009), an Iraqi herbalist who wrote extensively on the country’s flora and its uses.  “My work has sought to raise awareness of the work of Arabic scholars on medicinal herbs, inspired by prophetic medicine and Islamic medicine, and their importance to humankind.”

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on May 20, 2024

Excerpted from the Summer 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Conrad Loddiges (1738-1826) was born in the Kingdom of Hannover, now part of northern Germany, but after training in Holland, he moved at age 19 to the village of Hackney, now part of northeast London.  He purchased a seed company, eventually turning this into Loddiges Nursery, one of the most prominent nurseries in Europe.

“Loddiges of Hackney” by David Solman is the history of that business.  It was known for an array of large greenhouses, including a palm house 40 feet high that incorporated innovations such as steam heating and rain-like irrigation – allowing the raising of tropical palms, orchids, ferns, and carnivorous plants.  A cooler, camellia house was created for this genus, allowing winter blooming.  Sadly, none of these greenhouses have been preserved.

Outside, the nursery maintained a large planting of trees and shrubs.  To this the term “arboretum” was first applied by a leading horticultural writer of the day.  However, unlike the Washington Park Arboretum, this was a commercial venture, and these plants were displayed to promote sales.  In the 1820s, Loddiges catalog had 2,664 hardy trees and shrubs, including roses and vines.

Loddiges Nursery was instrumental in providing live subjects for William Curtis and his Botanical Magazine.  When Conrad’s son George Loddiges (1784-1846) began publishing in 1817 a nursery catalog in a similar format, known as The Botanical Cabinet, he hastened to assure Curtis’s successor as editor that this was not a rivalry.  He wrote a conciliatory note observing “the boundless variety of the vegetable world is doubtless sufficient to afford subjects for us all.”

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 23, 2024

Excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

William Curtis (1746-1799) was born in Alton, England, about 50 miles southwest of central London.  His father was a Quaker tanner.  He was apprenticed to his grandfather, the local apothecary, at age 14, but he was more interested in the natural history learned from the groom at the inn next door.

Curtis moved to London, becoming by his mid-20s a partner in an apothecary practice, but he soon gave this up.  At first, he worked at the Chelsea Physic Garden as a “demonstrator of botany”.  Next, he established his own garden in London, open by subscription.  He gave lectures to members along with seeds and plants from the 6,000 species of plants he grew.

Curtis collected a library of 250 books and was an active writer, publishing papers over a range of natural history subjects.  This included an attempt to write the flora of all the plants native within a ten-mile radius of London as he was an early conservationist and concerned with the loss of plant habitats as the city grew.

The biography of Curtis is at the core of “A Celebration of Flowers.”  Author Ray Desmond tells how this effort to produce a London flora was never completed because of repeated delays in production and disinterest from potential buyers, who were more interested in exotic plants than those they regarded as local weeds.

Curtis was instead encouraged to begin a monthly magazine with illustrations of garden plants, both native and long-established.  The focus was on the quality of the hand-colored prints, including this Echinacea purpurea (labeled as Rudbeckia purpurea) from the first issue.  The text, often borrowed from others, was supportive but not extensive.

The new publication was well-received.  What is now known as “Curtis’s Botanical Magazine” began with a circulation of 3,000 each month, but was increased to 5,000 because of demand.  Most amazing, it is still being published 237 years later!  Many of the 20^th and all of the 21^st century issues are available in the Miller Library.

A listing of the artists that contributed to “Curtis’s Botanical Magazine” includes most of the best botanical illustrators in Britain.  All of them were men until the 1870s, but after that it has mostly been women.  The illustrations were almost always drawn from live plants and were hand-colored until 1948.

At the beginning, 30 people engaged in coloring of the plates printed from this original art.  Typically, women and young children were doing this very repetitive work.  Ray Desmond notes the “Magazine was hand-colored until 1948, a process in the later years in a factory setting with each worker coloring one part of one plate over and over again, before passing it on to the next worker.

Of this dreary process, Desmond continues, “With a relentless pressure of work it was no mean achievement that a creditable level of care and finish was maintained by most colourists.  Where there were lapses it should be remembered that the low wages paid did not encourage them to excel.”

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 23, 2024

Excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

“Philip Miller (1691-1771) was the most distinguished and influential British gardener of the eighteenth century.”  This high praise is by Hazel Le Rougetel, the author of “The Chelsea Gardener,” a biography of Miller.  She explains this admiration is “for his practical skill in horticulture and his wide botanical knowledge of cultivated plants.”

Miller’s father had a market gardening business near London and young Philip developing a liking for this occupation.  At his father’s encouragement and financing, he traveled widely throughout England, Holland, and Flanders, learning the science, the literature, and the business of kitchen and ornamental gardening.

The Chelsea Physic Garden was established in the late 1600s, but it languished through several directors before Miller was hired in the position in 1722, a post he held for 48 years.  During his tenure, Miller developed the Physic Garden into one of the most highly regarded botanic gardens in Europe.  It is still a must-see for any gardener visiting London.

Much of that reputation was built on Miller’s publications, the most important being “The Gardener’s Dictionary,” first published in 1731.  Based on methods established at the Physic Garden, it became an authoritative text in both Britain and America for the next one hundred years.  Miller published eight editions during his lifetime, and it was translated into Dutch, German, and French.

This was a large book and could only be afforded by the wealthy, or for academic libraries.  Miller recognized that the average gardener, who he came to know very well during his travels, could not afford it.  To remedy this need, he published abridgements that still retained the practice and the plant specific information.  The Miller Library has a facsimile of the 1771 abridgement.

Le Rougetel summarizes Miller’s accomplishments as a “coordinator of half a century’s discoveries and conclusions, became a counsellor for every cultivator of the day and stands as a prominent figure in the world’s history of gardening.”

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 23, 2024

Excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

John Evelyn (1620-1706) is best known as a diarist; his memoir dated from when he was student until his death over 65 years later.  It gives insights to tumultuous 17th century England, especially the civil war, during which he traveled abroad to avoid being involved.

Upon his return, Evelyn wrote extensively about forestry in Britain, in a part as an encouragement to landowners to plant trees for reforestation.  In “A Passion for Trees,” Maggie Campbell-Culver provides a biography of Evelyn and descriptions of 30 selected trees, liberally incorporating Evelyn’s observations of these species.

Gardening became a passion of Evelyn.  He had his own copy of John Parkinson’s book, which he studied frequently, adding his own notes.  He developed a 100-acre garden just south of London, planted with 247 fruit trees including cherries, apples, and pears.  He was also fond of gooseberries, currants, and roses.

He had hoped to complete an extensive and comprehensive book on gardening, but only small portions were published during his life.  Two of these can be found in “Directions for the Gardiner and other Horticultural Advice,” edited by Maggie Campbell-Culver.

“Kalendarium Hortense” is a monthly list of tasks in the orchard, the olitory (or kitchen garden), and in the parterre and flower garden.  Advice for January includes “In over-wet, or hard weather, cleanse, mend, sharpen and prepare garden tools.”  Each month highlights the fruits and flowers in their prime, and those “yet lasting” from previous months.

“Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets” systematically lists all the appropriate vegetables (Evelyn was a vegetarian) to include in a salad, starting with lettuce – “the principal foundation of the universal tribe of salads; which is to cool and refresh.”  It is important that all “your herby ingredients be exquisitely culled and cleansed of all worm-eaten, slimy, cankered, dry, spotted or any ways vitiated leaves.”  Good advice indeed!

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 23, 2024

Excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

John Evelyn (1620-1706) is best known as a diarist; his memoir dated from when he was student until his death over 65 years later.  It gives insights to tumultuous 17th century England, especially the civil war, during which he traveled abroad to avoid being involved.

Upon his return, Evelyn wrote extensively about forestry in Britain, in a part as an encouragement to landowners to plant trees for reforestation.  In “A Passion for Trees,” Maggie Campbell-Culver provides a biography of Evelyn and descriptions of 30 selected trees, liberally incorporating Evelyn’s observations of these species.

Gardening became a passion of Evelyn.  He developed a 100-acre garden just south of London, planted with 247 fruit trees including cherries, apples, and pears.  He was also fond of gooseberries, currants, and roses.

He had hoped to complete an extensive and comprehensive book on gardening, but only small portions were published during his life.  Two of these can be found in “Directions for the Gardiner and other Horticultural Advice,” edited by Maggie Campbell-Culver.

“Kalendarium Hortense” is a monthly list of tasks in the orchard, the olitory (or kitchen garden), and in the parterre and flower garden.  Advice for January includes “In over-wet, or hard weather, cleanse, mend, sharpen and prepare garden tools.”  Each month highlights the fruits and flowers in their prime, and those “yet lasting” from previous months.

“Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets” systematically lists all the appropriate vegetables (Evelyn was a vegetarian) to include in a salad, starting with lettuce – “the principal foundation of the universal tribe of salads; which is to cool and refresh.”  It is important that all “your herby ingredients be exquisitely culled and cleansed of all worm-eaten, slimy, cankered, dry, spotted or any ways vitiated leaves.”  Good advice indeed!

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 23, 2024

Excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Anna Parkinson is possibly a descendant of John Parkinson (1567-1650), the apothecary and gardener noted for being the first to write in English about ornamental gardening.  While the ancestral line is uncertain, Anna pursues John’s story with the zeal of a descendant in “Nature’s Alchemist: John Parkinson, Herbalist to Charles I”.

John Parkinson was born in Lancashire in northwest England.  His family were farmers and he and his six siblings learn the importance of wild plants to supplement their diet and to provide for medicine and other needs.  John was also precocious, as he learned to read, write, and speak Latin well.  This was unusual for his social status, as Latin was the language of science and of most printed books.

It is also remarkable his family afforded sending John Parkinson to London to make his career at age 15 – a ten-day journey at the time.  Over the next 40 years, he steadily worked his way into being a skilled apothecary, eventually achieving his royal position as noted in the Anna Parkinson’s sub-title.

As an apothecary, it was necessary for John Parkinson to have a garden.  He developed a site known as the “Long Acre” in central London that became a tourist attraction.  He was enthusiastic in his love of ornamental plants and always eager to try new things.  His greatest passion was for tulips, of which he created 125 new varieties.

This passion in part led to the publication of “Paradisi in Sole: Paradisus Terrestris”, a book primarily of ornamental plants, and especially bulbous plants including tulips.  The Miller Library has a facsimile (titled “A Garden of Pleasant Flowers”) of this work reproduces the 17^th century English – quite readable with a little practice.  The title page features a highly stylized image of the Garden of Eden.  Anna Parkinson wrote about this book: “The most startling feature of the Paradisus was that it was the first English book about plants to be devoted above all to their beauty, making this the key purpose of a garden.”

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on February 23, 2024

Excerpted from the Spring 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

On my office wall at the Miller Library is a framed poster titled “Mackintosh Flowers” from the Hunterian Art Gallery at the University of Glasgow.  The four images of wildflowers are typically attributed only to Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928), but the signatures have two sets of initials, the other being MMM for his wife, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1864-1933).  Art historians disagree on the significance of the dual signatures, and on Margaret’s contribution to the works, but suffice to say these botanical illustrations are lovely examples of style evoking the turn of the 20^th century.

These remind me of the work of Harriet Isabel Adams, a less well-known botanical artist of the same time.  So unknown that there are widely differing accounts on her birth and death dates, but recent research places those at 1853-1937.  It is generally agreed she studied at the Birmingham School of Art.  It is certain that her scientific vigor was recognized when she was accepted as a Fellow in the Linnaean Society of London in 1906, a prestigious group of botanical scientists that require a two-thirds approval of membership to be accepted.

However, praise for her work was not universal.  Her style of presentation, developed from the Arts and Crafts movement, was not in the tradition of scientific illustration.  She typically included several plants from the same family in each painting, artfully arranged and labeled.  Critics agreed her works were beautiful, but dismissive of their contribution to scientific knowledge.  Here is her painting of Famille Des Géraniacées.

Adams is most well-known for “Wild Flowers of the British Isles”, published in two volumes.  The Miller Library does not have these, but instead her book on French wildflowers “Fleurs sauvages de France.”  Published in 1910, it presents species common to both countries and uses many of the illustrations of her British book, but labeled with French common names.  The text in French was not a translation but instead written anew by Henri Coupin (1868-1937), a Parisian botanist noted for his ability to exhort enthusiasm for the natural sciences.

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on November 21, 2023

Excerpted from the Winter 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

The Falkland Islands, or Islas Malvinas, are an isolated archipelago east of South America in the south Atlantic Ocean.  Uninhabited when discovered by European powers in the 1600s, dispute over its control has continued for centuries, including a deadly war between Argentina and Britain as recently as 1982.  The flora is quite isolated, too, with no native trees, and the largest shrubs only reaching seven feet tall.

Elinor Frances Vallentin (1873-1924) was born on West Falkland Island when it was under British control.  One of ten children, she enjoyed horseback riding with her sisters, although they were frustrated by her frequent stops to collect or look at plants.  After marrying botanist Rubert Vallentin in 1904, she moved to England and there studied botanical illustration with Matilda Smith at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Rubert, who had a special interest in marine algae and ferns, and Elinor returned to the Falklands in 1909.   During the next two years, she collected over 900 specimens of flowering plants, fungi, and lichens, all which are now preserved at Kew.  She also drew from life many of the flowering plants and ferns before returning to England.  Her efforts were praised in the 1914 Journal of the Linnean Society, “far as flowering plants and ferns are concerned, the flora of the Falkland Islands may now be said to be thoroughly known.”

Her drawings were also exhibited at a general meeting of the same society and received high praise.  An example is this image of Rubus geoides.  Her intention was to publish an extensive book, but her health declined.  She needed the help of her husband and Smith to publish a modest publication in 1921 titled “Illustrations of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Falkland Islands.”

The plant descriptions in this book were written by Enid Mary Cotton (1889-1956), another botanist associated with Kew.  Like the issues of “Curtis’s Botanical Magazine” published at the time, the 64 illustrations were hand-colored lithographs, even though for most publications that technique had been replaced by color printing fifty years earlier.

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on November 21, 2023

Excerpted from the Winter 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin

Librarians are often called upon to solve mysteries, and we enjoying hearing the stories of triumphs by our colleagues.  One of my favorites is the story of Mary Gunn (1899-1989), a librarian at the Botanical Research Institute in Pretoria, South Africa.  She had a special interest in the history of botany and botanical illustration.

In the 1930s, she began researching a book in her library’s collection titled “Specimens of the Flora of South Africa by a Lady” and published in England in 1849.  This book included nine plates of colorful, native plants noteworthy for their quality.  The identity of the “Lady” was unknown.

Gunn used her research skills over a period of nearly 20 years to discover the artist was Arabella Elizabeth Roupell (1817-1914), the wife of a British judge who was in Cape Town, South Africa for only two years in the early 1840s.  Having much leisure time, Roupell would ride on horseback to collect plants for painting, often accompanied by a British botanist who later introduced her to William Hooker, the first director of Kew and father of Joseph.

Hooker was very impressed with Roupell’s work that included about 100 paintings.  He promoted the publication of a select few in “Specimens,” but why this was done anonymously is unknown.  The book received high praise at the time, with a copy being given to Queen Victoria.  There were only 110 printed, and those soon became rare collector’s items.

Through Gunn’s exhaustive efforts, she not only discovered this history, but also the location of the original paintings.  With the help of the South African government, they were returned to the University of Cape Town in the 1950s.  “More Cape Flowers by a Lady” was published in 1964 with reproductions of eleven of the original pieces and a text by Allan Bird that included their history.  While the Miller Library does not have the earlier book, we are pleased to have this limited, later publication.

Reviewed by: Brian Thompson on November 21, 2023

Excerpted from the Winter 2024 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin