Extraordinary History of Botany

Title: Flora Illustrata. By Susan Fraser and Vanesa Sellers
Publisher: Yale University Press and NYBotanical Garden
320 pp
Genre: botany, horticulture, history, plants, gardening, natural history, botanical gardens, library
5 stars*****

Author: Susan M Fraser is the Director of the LuEsther Mertz Library at the New York Botanical Gardens. Vanessa Sellers is the Humanities Research Coordinator at NYBG and a landscape and garden historian.  This brilliant book was just awarded the 2015 American Horticultural Society Book Award.

Story Line: The Mertz library is not well known outside botanical circles and deserves greater recognition. It has an astonishing array of botanical and historical material, spanning 8 centuries. This volume showcases the intricate relationships between science, art, culture and books. While only a portion of their collection could be used, the selected material is brilliantly displayed with excellent essays, fantastic photographs and informative interpretations. This is an outstanding resource for many, and a wonderful book for others. It would be a great gift for any plant enthusiast.
Note too,that much if the collection has been digitized and is available online at http://biodiversitylibrary.org/.
This is well written, well edited, well illustrated (279 colour and b/w) and well done! So much more than a coffee table book; it will be read and thought about for years to come. Enjoy!


Read as an ARC from Netgalley (my copy did not download well, but colleagues who purchased it loaned me their version.)