lamdha books -
Catalogue of books on wild plants, plant science and botanical illustration

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90943 Aitken, Richard Botanical Riches Stories of Botanical Exploration The Miegunyah Press/Melbourne University Publishing Ltd., Carlton Vic., 2007. Quarto; hardcover, full cloth with gilt spine titling; 244pp., with many colour illustrations. Mild wear; slightly shaken and rolled; some light scraping to the board bottom edges. Dustwrapper a litt;le rubbed and edgeworn; a small surface tear to the front pane; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. "The stars of the book are all artists in the European tradition. But what stars they are. They loved structure, the veins of the leaf, the relation of the leaf to the stem, the arrangement of the seed in the pod, and everything to do with the composition of the flower. They loved the surfaces of fruit, with their characteristic blemishes. They loved laying out their information on the page, in a standard scientific manner but with great energy of composition. (That is why their books have so often been disbound and the illustrations framed.) And some of them liked devising sublime landscapes for a background, to give some sense of native habitat, while Johann Volckhammer, in a great book on fruit produced in Nuremberg in the early 18th century, had the idea of placing the fruit in the sky above aerial views of the great houses in Europe where they were being cultivated. So it is that we find a grapefruit (or grapefruit-ancestor), labelled Pompelmus, hovering over a baroque moated Schloss, looking like something devised by Magritte. Elsewhere, an airborne aubergine.The idiom of these illustrations changes as the techniques for reproduction change. Woodcuts come first, followed by steel engravings, both of them coloured by hand, so that what you are looking at is the work not just of artist and engraver but also of countless, nameless, highly skilled drudges, who brought the work to its exquisite finish. ...Precise technical description of a plant, coupled with a drawing, takes us a long way towards identification. The early botanical artists' work is by no means useless to us today. Often the scientific names have changed, but the flower itself jumps out at us from the page. We say: I've seen that, or I grow that. Perhaps it is familiar. But to many of these artists it was not familiar at all. It spoke of the great unknown, of uncharted creation. It seemed the latest word in the bizarre." - James Fenton Click here to order $40

210080 Anderson, Frank J. The Complete Book of 169 Redoute Roses Abbeville Press, New York, 1979. Quarto hardcover; green cloth boards with gilt spine titling and upper board rose decoration; 149pp., colour illustrations. Spotting to text block edges; toned page edges and one or two scattered spots to pages; 'horticultural training centre' stamp three times within. Illustrated dustwrapper mildly rubbed with some light toning to edges, one or two tiny scrapes at corners; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $40

40878 Attenborough, David The Private Life of Plants A natural history of plant behaviour BBC Books, London, 1995. Small quarto, hardcover, colour illustrations, 320pp. Minor wear; mild spotting to upper text block edges and a few scattered spots on half title page. Otherwise very good to near fine in like dustwrapper. Based on the popular six-part BBC program, this book offers what writer/filmmaker David Attenborough is best known for delivering: an intimate view of the natural world wherein a multitude of miniature dramas unfold. In the program and book, both titled The Private Life of Plants, Attenborough treks through rainforests, mountain ranges, deserts, beaches, and home gardens to show us things we might never have suspected about the vegetation that surrounds us. With their extraordinary sensibility, plants compete endlessly for survival and interact with animals and insects: they can see, count, communicate, adjust position, strike, and capture. Attenborough makes the plant world a vivid place for readers, who in this book can enjoy the tour at their own pace, taking in the lively descriptions and nearly 300 full-colour photos showing plants in close detail. Click here to order $25

209960 Bernhardt, Peter Natural Affairs A Botanist Looks at the Attachments between Plants and People Villard Books/Random House Inc., New York NY, 1993. Octavo; hardcover, quarter-bound in cloth with silver-gilt spine titles and metallic blue upper board decorations; 226pp., untrimmed, with 8pp. of colour plates and many monochrome illustrations. Mild wear; spine extremities mildly softened; text block top edge a little softened. Dustwrapper is a little rubbed and edgeworn; rear flap creased. Very good. In this work, the author examines some of the fascinating relationships between humans and plants throughout the ages. From the teachings of missionaries in sixteenth-century Peru to the centuries-old superstitions of Persian midwives, Peter Bernhardt takes us on an absorbing tour of the strange points in history where the lives of people and plants have converged. For instance, we learn that the passion vine's name comes not from any properties its fruit has as an aphrodisiac but rather from the Jesuits' conviction that the vine's flower depicted Christ's passion on the cross. Bernhardt also chronicles the various bizarre medicinal powers ascribed to saffron the spice that's worth its weight in gold. Aside from the history and lore surrounding certain plants, Bernhardt also reveals the science behind their existence; recording each plant's remarkable life cycle. We are introduced to the Asian slipper orchid the subject of many of Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs and a plant whose survival strategies would have shocked even the controversial photographer. And we learn that, yes, every supermarket lettuce dies a virgin! Natural Affairs is both an impressive record of the botanical sciences and a thoroughly charming often quirky look at the histories and cultures of various societies. Peter Bernhardt's observations are always a delight whether he's on the hunt for wild orchids in Australian graveyards or in the lab recording plant structure and function. Natural Affairs offers a rare and informative glimpse into a magical world where wonders are ceaseless but, too often, unappreciated. Click here to order $20

204718 Bernhardt, Peter Wily Violets and Underground Orchids Revelations of a Botanist Allen & Unwin, Sydney NSW, 1990. Paperback, octavo, 255pp. Spotted text block edges; very mild scuffing to card covers. Very good. From the elusive orchid of western Australia that only flowers underground to the promiscuous little violets of suburban American lawns, the world of plants is a fascinating place. In this book, Peter Bernhardt takes us on a grand tour of the botanical realm, weaving engaging descriptions of the lovely shapes and intriguing habits of flowering plants with considerations of broader questions, such as why there are only six basic shapes of flower and why the orchid family is so numerous and so bizarre. Everyone from amateur naturalists and gardeners to plant scientists should find "Wily Violets and Underground Orchids" a lively guide to botanical lore. Click here to order $13

69429 Bianchini, Francesco & Francesco Corbetta & Marilena Pistoia Fruits of the Earth Cassell, London, 1975. Quarto hardcover; green cloth boards with white spine titling, lime endpapers and rear pages comprising Appendices, Bibliography and Index of Latin names a matching green; 303pp., colour illustrations. Minor wear; mild scattered spotting to pastedown edges and mark on endpaper; mild foxing to title and half-title pages; spotting to text block edges. Illustrated dustwrapper with mild sunning along spine. Very good to near fine and wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. This lavish volume pays homage to the extraordinarily varied world of fruits and vegetables, offering what may well be the most magnificent colour plates created in this field today, and a thoroughly informative text. Almost every edible plant is described in its pages, grouped into categories according to use, such as cereals and grains, aromatic and seasoning herbs, spices, nuts, stimulants, starch, sugar and oil plants, as well as traditional fruits and vegetables. The authors give the origin of approximately 400 plants, examining the areas in which they flourish, their uses and composition, their relation to nutrition and health, the varieties available, and many other little-known horticultural facts. This handsome volume is a great tribute to nature, a memorable gift book that will make a lasting impression on everyone concerned with her beauty and majesty. Click here to order $65

204732 Blakeley, W.F. A Key to Eucalypts - Third edition with Descriptions of 522 Species and 150 Varieties; with an appendix - Leaflet No. 92 - "Taxonomy and Nomenclature of Eucalypts" by R.D. Johnston and Rosemary Marryatt, 1965. Commonwealth of Australia, Department of National Development, Forestry and Timber Bureau, Canberra ACT, 1965. Royal octavo; hardcover, quarter-bound in cloth with gilt spine titles and upper board titling; 359pp. (plus a 24pp. Appendix), with many monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; covers lightly rubbed and edgeworn with some mild spotting; text block edges lightly toned with some spots; faint offset to the endpapers; previous owner's name in ink to the flyleaf; inked marginalia to the flyleaf and very occasionally in the text; a couple of pages lightly creased. No dustwrapper as issued. Very good. William Faris Blakely (November 1875 - 1 September 1941) was an Australian botanist and collector. From 1913 to 1940 he worked in the National Herbarium of New South Wales, working with Joseph Maiden on Eucalyptus, Maiden named a red gum in his honour, Eucalyptus blakelyi. His botanical work centred particularly on Acacias, Loranthaceae and Eucalypts. Click here to order $45

201805 Breeden, Stanley and Kaisa Wildflower Country Discovering biodiversity in Australia's Southwest Fremantle Press, Fremantle WA, 2010. Large quarto; hardcover, red boards with white upper board and spine titling, illustrated endpapers; 240pp., colour illustrations. Mild wear to board corners. Near fine in like dustwrapper. There are few other places on earth where flowers are so all pervasive, so varied and as sumptuous as in southwest Western Australia. It is one of 39 special places in the world, named International Biodiversity Hotspots, where there have been explosions of evolution - veritable cauldrons of species making. Award-winning photographers Stanley and Kaisa Breeden journey into this unique landscape. Part fine art photography, part travelogue, this book will delight nature lovers anywhere. Click here to order $40

89177 Bridson, Gavin D.R., & Donald E. Wendel, with James J. White Printmaking in the Service of Botany Catalogue of an Exhibition Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Pittsburgh PA, 1986. Quarto paperback; 165pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear only; mild spotting to white cover edges and text block edges. Very good to near fine. Click here to order $30

210029 Coats, Alice M. The Quest for Plants A History of the Horticultural Explorers Studio Vista, London, 1969. Octavo hardcover; green boards with gilt spine titling; 400pp., monochrome plates. Minor wear; well-rubbed board edges and corners; one or two marks on text block edges. Illustrated dustwrapper with long tear on upper rear edge and small on on upper front; a few tiny chips on edges; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film with white paper backing. Very good. Click here to order $45

210061 Cottesloe, Gloria, & Doris Hunt The Duchess of Beaufort's Flowers Webb & Bower, Exeter UK, 1983. Quarto hardcover; yellow boards with brown upper board and spine titling, brown endpapers; 64pp., colour illustrations. Minor wear; rubbed and bumped board edges and corners; spotted text block edges and upper board edges. Illustrated dustwrapper; sunned along spine panel, upper front and fore-edges; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $25

99474 Cribb, Phillip & Michael Tibbs A Very Victorian Passion - The Orchid Paintings of John Day, 1863-1888 From the Botanic Gardens, Kew. Blacker Publishing and Thames and Hudson, London, 2004. Oblong quarto hardcover; 464pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Dustwrapper. Remainder, new. John Day's ink and watercolour illustrations of over 2300 orchids now form one of the most important botanical archives in the world. This book presents 280 of those illustrations, as well as discussing the Victorians' love of orchids and looking at 'a year in the life of a Victorian orchid grower'. Click here to order $50

87087 de Feydeau, Elisabeth From Marie-Antoinette's Garden An Eighteenth-Century Horticultural Album Flammarion, Paris, 2013. Quarto hardcover, illustrated boards, blue-green endpapers; 239pp., colour illustrations. Mild wear to lower board edges and a small scrape on upper board title, some rubbing to cover. Very good to near fine otherwise. No dustwrapper. Click here to order $40

92384 Desmond, Ray Great Natural History Books and their Creators British Library and Oak Knoll Press, London, 2003. Quarto hardcover; green boards with gilt spine titling, beige endpapers; 176pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Mild spotting to upper text block edges. Near fine in like illustrated white dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Amongst the greatest books every created are the large-scale works of natural history researched and written by apothecaries, scientists and others for whom the study of the natural world was a consuming passion. Behind each book there is a story to tell - how and why the volume was created, the vicissitudes suffered by those engaged in its production, the slow journey to the market, and above all the beauty of the plates, which today are so often reproduced out of their original context and often very much smaller. Such books are now amongst the rarest and most sought-after by today's collectors. For example "Hortus Eystettensis", Thornton's "Temple of Flora", Audubon's "Birds of America" and the Daniells' "Oriental Scenery". The stories behind many such books are told by Ray Desmond, with many reproduced colour plates from original copies in The British Library and other major archives. Click here to order $45

210066 Elliot, W. Rodger, & David L. Jones (Trevor L. Blake, illus.) Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants - two volumes, signed Lothian Publishing Co., Melbourne Vic., 1980 - 1982. Two quarto hardcover volumes; brown boards with gilt spine titling, blue map endpapers; 336 + 517pp., colour and b&w illustrations. Owner's name and inscription to owner by David Jones on Volume I title page. Minor wear; rubbing to board corners, a few small bumps; mild scattered spotting to endpapers and half-title page of Vol. I; well-spotted text block edges. Illustrated dustwrapper with browned spine and rear panel; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $90

63843 Fowles, John, & Frank Horvat The Tree Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1980. First Australian edition. Oblong quarto hardcover; brown cloth boards with gilt spine titling, brown endpapers; unpaginated, colour illustrations. Inscription. Minor wear; scattered spotting on half-title and title page with random spotting throughout; mild spotting on text block edges; very good to near fine in like slightly rubbed dustwrapper and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. When these hauntingly beautiful studies of trees were first exhibited in France they were hailed as 'an achievement in the realm of photography that makes his work equal the highest moments of painting', and they attracted the novelist John Fowles with their powerful simplicity and their ability to see nature as even paintings could not: 'In many ways painters did not begin to see nature whole until the camera saw it for them; and already in this context, had begun to supersede them'. Click here to order $35

11357 Fullerton, Patricia Ellis Rowan The Flower Hunter National Library of Australia, Canberra ACT, 2002. Quarto; gatefold paperback; 105pp., with many colour illustrations. Minor wear; mild edgewear and rubbing to covers; very faint spotting and toning to the text block and page edges. Very good. Click here to order $25

83988 Gilbert, Lionel The Orchid Man - signed by the author The Life, Work and Memoirs of the Rev. H.M.R. Rupp 1872-1956 Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, NSW, Australia, 1992. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine-titling and decorated endpapers; 248pp., many monochrome illustrations and 8pp. of full-colour plates. Signed by the author in ink on the half-title page; slightly cocked; text block top edge lightly spotted; minor softening to the spine extremities. Minor edge wear to dustwrapper (now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). Very good to near fine. Click here to order $40

210121 Graham, Robin, with Ronald Roy Slipper Orchids The Art of Digby Graham Croom Helm Ltd., London, 1982. Folio; hardcover, full cloth with upper board titles; 109pp., with a monochrome frontispiece and many colour and monochrome illustrations. Mild wear; some light corner bumping; board top edges and spine sunned. Dustwrapper well sunned, especially along the main panel edges and spine panel; a short tear to the top edge of the lower panel; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $45

92380 Grierson, Mary (intro. William T Stearn & notes Christopher Brickell) An English Florilegium - The Tradescant Legacy Flowers, Trees, Shrubs, Fruits, Herbs Thames & Hudson, London, 1987. Folio hardcover; dark green cloth boards with gilt spine titling and upper board publisher's insignia, illustrated floral endpapers; 240pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Owner's name stamp. Minor wear; very faint spotting to upper text block edges; slightly rubbed white illustrated dustwrapper with mild browning to edges. Near fine and wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. A beautifully produced book including 52 watercolour plates in colour by the acclaimed botanical artist Mary Grierson illustrating 150 plants. Comprises a twenty two page introductory essay by William Stearn ("The two Tradescants and their Plants" - John Tradescant the Elder, c.1570-1638, and his son John Tradescant the Younger, 1608-1662) followed by five chapters illustrated with full colour plates, a bibliography and an "Index of Plants". Click here to order $100

204950 Griffiths, Mark The Lotus Quest In Search of the Sacred Flower Chatto & Windus, London, 2009. Hardcover, octavo; dark red boards with gilt spine titling and red endpapers 338pp., colour and monochrome plates. Mildly toned text block edges and slight wear to dustwrapper edges. Very good to near fine and wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Galvanised by receiving seeds from a three-thousand-year-old lotus, which flowered without difficulty in an English summer, Mark Griffiths set out to track the path of this sublime plant to its home in the Lotus-Lands of Japan. "The Lotus Quest" unveils a stunning vision of Japan's feudal era, as Griffiths visits shrines, ruins, gardens and wild landscapes, and meets priests and archaeologists, philosophers and anthropologists, gardeners and botanists, poets and artists, and even dines on the lotus in a Tokyo cafe. Beautifully illustrated, intensely atmospheric and full of suspense, "The Lotus Quest" shows how the deep crimson of the lotus runs like a tracer dye, tracking the spread, fusion and fission of the world's great civilizations. Click here to order $23

88238 Hansen, Eric Orchid Fever A Horticultural Tale of Love, Lust and Lunacy Methuen, London, 2000. Hardcover, octavo; red boards with silver gilt spine titling; 272pp., monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; browned and spotted text block edges and toning to page edges; mild rubbing and wear to dustwrapper edges. Very good. A true story of one of the world's strangest plants and humanity's oddest obsessions: the orchid, brought to book by the author, traveller and self-confessed orchid obsessive. From the Orinoco River to the hothouses of Kew, and the clandestine nurseries of Europe to the peat bogs of Minnesota, this is a dark and humorous tale of orchid smugglers, ice-cream makers and visionary breeders; of corruption, murder and moths with 12-inch tongues; and of the vicious, bizarre world of international plant politics and the wide range of gentle people whose overriding passion is the cultivation of these beautiful, fragile flowers. Click here to order $20

89135 Harvey, W.H. (Sophie C. Ducker, ed.) The Contented Botanist Letters of W.H. Harvey about Australia and the Pacific Miegunyah Press, Melbourne Vic., 1988. Limited edition of 1000 copies. Hardcover, octavo; red cloth boards with gilt spine titling, green endpapers; 413pp., colour and monochrome plates and illustrations; biographical notes; plants mentioned in the letters; subscription prospectus of specimens of Australian algae; Notes; Bibliography; Index and others. Minor wear; a few faint spots on upper text block edges and mildly faded dustwrapper spine. Otherwise near fine and covered in protective film. William Henry Harvey, a Professor of Botany from Dublin, Ireland, was a prolific letter writer, and during his career and particularly in his travels, he engaged in friendly correspondence with Sir William Hooker, Professor and Mrs Asa Gray and other outstanding scientists of his time. His specialities were the marine plants, the algae, but he was equally knowledgeable about higher plants. His published work on the Australian flora is an important milestone and occupies a significant place in the history of Australian science. The history of his preparation of Phycologia australica is told in Harvey's own words. Until a few years ago the fate of Harvey's correspondence had been a mystery, but the letters from his travels were rediscovered by Dr Ducker in the Asa Gray Herbarium at Harvard University. They are well written, and interesting from a social/historical point of view, as well as for their scientific content. Here we have an insight into the enquiring mind of an outstanding Victorian botanist and his changing view of the world as a result of his extended travels. In Australia and the Pacific Islands he met all kinds of people, mixing with ticket-of-leave men during his walk from Fremantle to Albany, dining with the gentlemen of Port Phillip, visiting clergymen and botanists in Tasmania and convicts at Port Arthur; about all this he wrote with much vitality and good humour. Sophie Ducker exposes Harvey's love of life, nature and science and, it seems, also her own. 'Contented' is perfectly apt. The letters selected for this book are unabridged. They are of national and international significance, not only to the scientific community, but also for their Australian and Pacific historical content. Click here to order $45

209951 Hoffman, Noel, & Andrew Brown Orchids of South-West Australia Second edition University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands WA, 1992. Reprint: royal octavo; hardcover, illustrated boards and endpaper maps; 428pp., with many monochrome and full-colour illustrations. Minor wear; a little shaken; boards lightly rubbed; some pen impressions to the first few pages. No dustwrapper as issued. Very good. Laid in: a photocopied paper about orchids by one of the authors. Click here to order $90

216076 Keith, David Ocean Shores to Desert Dunes: The Native Vegetation of New South Wales and the ACT Department of the Environment and Conservation, Hurstville, 2004. Large quarto hardcover; illustrated green boards with map endpapers; 353pp., colour illustrations, fold-out maps, appendices, glossary, bibliography, botanical index and general index. Minor wear only; tiny chip on lower front edge of dustwrapper, now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Near fine. Ocean Shores to Desert Dunes is an award-winning book that takes the reader on a journey through the landscapes of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, describing the 12 broad formations - or types - of vegetation, and 99 vegetation classes. Each vegetation class is comprehensively described, including where each occurs and why, interesting aspects of its ecology, evolution, history and development, as well as current conservation and management challenges. This spectacularly illustrated book includes more than 100 maps and 400 colour photographs, species lists for each of the vegetation classes, and extensive botanical and general indexes. Click here to order $100

31688 Kerr, Joan, & Hugh Falkus From Sydney Cove to Duntroon A Family Album of Early Life in Australia Hutchinson Group (Aust.) Pty. Ltd./Victor Gollancz Ltd., Melbourne Vic., 1982. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 128pp., with many monochrome and colour illustrations. Minor wear. Dustwrapper. Near fine. From Sydney Cove to Duntroon, by Joan Kerr and Hugh Falkus, is a well researched and lavishly illustrated family album of early life in Australia. It is the story of two remarkable women, Sophia Palmer and her daughter-in-law Marrianne Collinson Close who both married into the Campbell family and established their homes and gardens at Wharf House, Sydney, and Duntroon, Canberra, respectively. Both were artists of some repute, with a special inclination towards botanical illustration. The authors have collected their little known work together and produced a fine tribute to them, as well as a valuable historical record of early life in Australia. Click here to order $25

70149 Kingsbury, Noel Hybrid The History & Science of Plant Breeding University of Chicago Press, Chicago IL, 2009. Hardcover, octavo, 493pp. Minor edgewear and rubbing to dustwrapper. Near fine. Disheartened by the shrink-wrapped, Styrofoam-packed state of contemporary supermarket fruits and vegetables, many shoppers hark back to a more innocent time, to visions of succulent red tomatoes plucked straight from the vine, gleaming orange carrots pulled from loamy brown soil, swirling heads of green lettuce basking in the sun. With Hybrid, Noel Kingsbury reveals that even those imaginary perfect foods are themselves far from anything that could properly be called natural; rather, they represent the end of a millennia-long history of selective breeding and hybridization. Starting his story at the birth of agriculture, Kingsbury traces the history of human attempts to make plants more reliable, productive, and nutritious a story that owes as much to accident and error as to innovation and experiment. Drawing on historical and scientific accounts, as well as a rich trove of anecdotes, Kingsbury shows how scientists, amateur breeders, and countless anonymous farmers and gardeners slowly caused the evolutionary pressures of nature to be supplanted by those of human needs and thus led us from sparse wild grasses to succulent corn cobs, and from mealy, white wild carrots to the juicy vegetables we enjoy today. At the same time, Kingsbury reminds us that contemporary controversies over the Green Revolution and genetically modified crops are not new; plant breeding has always had a political dimension. A powerful reminder of the complicated and ever-evolving relationship between humans and the natural world, Hybrid will give readers a thoughtful new perspective on, and a renewed appreciation of, the cereal crops, vegetables, fruits, and flowers that are central to our way of life. Click here to order $28

210053 Kress, W. John The Weeping Goldsmith Discoveries in the Secret Land of Myanmar Abbeville Press, New York NY, 2009. Small quarto; hardcover, with blind stamped upper board titles and gilt spine titling; 272pp., with colour illustrations. Minor wear; faint spotting to text block edges. Dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Near fine This intriguing memoir by W. John Kress, a curator of botany at the Smithsonian Institution, recounts the time he spent over nine years exploring the wilderness of Myanmar (formerly called Burma) in search of rare and beautiful plants. In his work as a botanical taxonomist, or classifier of plant species, Dr. Kress had travelled extensively in Latin America, southeast Asia, southern China, and the islands of the South Pacific. In Myanmar, however, he not only a natural environment but also a social and cultural landscape unlike any he had experienced before. "Myanmar [was] one of the most fascinating lands I would ever visit," he wrote, "one of the most extraordinary opportunities of my life." Dr. Kress was determined to rediscover plants that had not been studied...some flowers for sale in the market place were new to science, such as the 'padeign gno' or "weeping goldsmith" a species of ginger whose name derived from the legend that the local goldsmiths were reduced to tears because none of their own creations could rival its exquisiteness. "The Weeping Goldsmith" is an acutely observed narrative of travel and scientific discovery; it will be welcomed by a general readership as well as by botanists, conservationists and environmentalists. Click here to order $45

210087 Law-Smith, Joan The Uncommon Garden - signed Women's Committee of the National Trust, Melbourne Vic., 1983. Quarto; hardcover; green / beige boards with gilt spine titles, green endpapers; 127pp., with many full-colour & b&w illustrations. Signed in ink by the author on the colophon page. Minor wear only; slightly rubbed board edges and corners and one or two faint spots on text block edge. Illustrated dustwrapper professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Near fine. A botanical artist, a writer, an illustrator and a dedicated gardener and horticulturist with a good working knowledge of botany. She was patron of the Australian Garden History Society (AGHS) from 1989 to 1998. Click here to order $60

203749 Mabey, Richard The Cabaret of Plants Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., New York NY, 2016. Octavo; hardcover; 374pp., with many colour illustrations. Dustwrapper. Remainder. New. "The Cabaret of Plants" is a masterful, globe-trotting exploration of the relationship between humans and the kingdom of plants by the renowned naturalist Richard Mabey. A rich, sweeping, and wonderfully readable work of botanical history, The Cabaret of Plants explores dozens of plant species that for millennia have challenged our imaginations, awoken our wonder, and upturned our ideas about history, science, beauty, and belief. Going back to the beginnings of human history, Mabey shows how flowers, trees, and plants have been central to human experience not just as sources of food and medicine but as objects of worship, actors in creation myths, and symbols of war and peace, life and death. Click here to order $25

92386 Mabey, Richard The Frampton Flora The Secrets of Frampton Court Gardens Quercus, London, 1985. Hardcover, folio; black boards with gilt spine titling, marbled endpapers; 208pp., colour illustrations. Near fine in like dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film A magnificent production celebrating the extraordinary discovery over twenty years ago of more than 300 Victorian flower paintings in the attic of Frampton Court in Gloucestershire. Bold, exactly observed, and beautifully executed, they represent one of the earliest and most intriguing collections of amateur flower paintings found to date. Between 1828 and 1851, sisters Elizabeth, Charlotte, Catherine and Mary Anne Clifford explored their corner of the country, and succeeded in painting an impressive number of its native plants. "The Frampton Flora" is Richard Mabey's account of the wild flowers, the painters and their paintings as well as an enduring record of the richness of the English countryside in the early 19th century. Illustrated in colour throughout, in a large format, this unique book seeks to recreate the charm and intimacy of the original notebooks in which the watercolours were found. Click here to order $50

207333 McClure, F.A. (Foreword by Gerald Bol; Introduction by Lynn Clark) The Bamboos Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC, 1993. Octavo; paperback; 345pp., with many monochrome illustrations. Minor wear. Near fine. Click here to order $20

90354 Maiden, J.H. The Weeds of New South Wales - Part 1 William Applegate Gullick Government Printer, Sydney NSW, 1920. Octavo; hardcover, with gilt upper-board titles; 142pp., on glossy stock, with a full-colour frontispiece, 15 plates likewise and many monochrome illustrations. Moderate wear; water damage to the last third of the book, not affecting the boards; text block bowed; softening to the spine extremities; some scuffing to the upper board; offset to the endpapers; previous owner's ink stamp to the flyleaf. No dustwrapper as issued. As is. Although styled as part one of an ongoing series, only this first volume was ever printed. Click here to order $30

93008 Mathew, Brian, with William T. Stearn and William Patrick Watson (P.J. Redoute, illus.) Lilies and Related Flowers Michael Joseph Ltd., London, 1982. Quarto hardcover; green cloth boards with gilt spine titling and decorated green endpapers; 238pp., colour illustrations. Minor wear; spotting to upper text block edges. Very good to near fine otherwise and wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Click here to order $35

201203 Moon, Beth Ancient Skies Ancient Trees Abbeville Press Publishers, New York NY, 2016. Large quarto hardcover; blue cloth boards with gilt spine titling and blind-stamped upper board titles; illustrated endpapers; 114pp., colour plates. Mild rubbing to dustwrapper. Near fine otherwise. Photographer Beth Moon revisits the world's oldest trees in the darkest places on earth, using colour photography to capture vibrant night time skies Throughout much of the world, night skies are growing increasingly brighter, but the force that protects the remaining naturally dark sky, unpolluted by artificial light, is the same that saves its ancient trees - isolation. Staking out some of the world's last dark places, photographer Beth Moon uses a digital camera to reveal constellations, nebulae, and the Milky Way, in rich hues that are often too faint to be seen by the naked eye. As in her acclaimed first volume, "Ancient Trees: Portraits of Time", these magnificent images encounter great arboreal specimens, including baobabs, olive trees, and redwoods, in such places as South Africa, England, and California. In her artist's statement, Beth Moon describes the experience of shooting at night in these remote places. Click here to order $50

216082 Nikulinsky, Philippa Banksia Menziesii Freemantle Arts Centre Press, 1992. Quarto hardcover; brown cloth boards with colour illustration pasted on front board, gilt upper board and spine titling, unpaginated with colour illustrations. Very slight discolouration to board edges; upper board mildly fanned. Minor wear otherwise. Near fine. No dustwrapper as issued. Click here to order $40

210091 O'Brien, Seamus In the Footsteps of Joseph Dalton Hooker A Sikkim Adventure Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Publishing, London, 2018. Quarto hardcover; white boards with gilt spine titling, illustrated endpapers; 323pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Illustrated dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Minor wear only; near fine. In 1847 Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) embarked on an expedition to Sikkim in the eastern Himalaya, a region where he would discover a huge number of botanical treasures previously unknown to the West. A scientist of breath-taking ability, Hooker would go on to become one of the greatest botanists and explorers of the 19th century and is perhaps the greatest of the lauded Directors of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In this fascinating travelogue, author Seamus O'Brien retraces Hooker's footsteps in Sikkim, bringing alive the adventure, dangers and discoveries that Hooker and his companions experienced in the mid- 19th century. Seamus describes how his drive for this expedition came from a yearning to see in the wild the plant discoveries made famous by Hooker, who described the region as 'a perfect microcosm of the Himalaya.' Following in Hooker's footsteps, the author describes how these places compare to the descriptions made by Hooker 170 years previously, and how in many ways how little Sikkim has changed little over the course of time. Hooker was a highly skilled geographer and cartographer, and in Sikkim he created the first comprehensive map of the kingdom, highlighting mountain passes that would be of enormous strategic value in the decades to come. Some of these maps are reproduced in the book along with Hooker's original sketches of the region and plants, as well as illustrated throughout with stunning photographs by the author. Click here to order $50

91003 Pavord, Anna The Naming of Names The Search for Order in the World of Plants Bloomsbury, London, 2005. Small quarto, hardcover in dustwrapper; red papered boards with black spine titling and illustrated endpapers; 471pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. A few faint spots on upper text block. Near fine otherwise in like dustwrapper and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. "The Naming of Names" is about the men who searched for the rules of nature's game. What were plants to be called? What were their similarities and differences? How should they be grouped and ordered? The world was surely more than a random, chaotic jumble, if only the right key could be found to unlock the puzzle. Thus this wonderful study is a thrilling adventure into botanical history. The author travels from Athens in the third century B.C. to Constantinople, and from Venice to the universities of Padua and Pisa. Sumptuously illustrated, this volume is a compelling window into a world full of intrigue and ego. Click here to order $35

217367 Pollet, Cedric (Susan Berry, trans.) Bark An Intimate Look at the World's Trees Francis Lincoln Ltd. Publishers, London, 2010. Folio; hardcover; red boards with silver gilt spine titling and lime green endpapers; 192pp., with many full-colour illustrations. Mild wear; some mild scraping to the spine extremities and corners, sunning to upper board edges; previous owner's bookplate to the front pastedown. Dustwrapper lightly edgeworn; spine panel and upper edge, sunned; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. This book is the culmination of ten years of photography dedicated to finding the most beautiful examples of tree bark around the globe. The author presents the most spectacular, striking and remarkable examples of bark that he has found across the five continents. Each image is a work of art in itself, and is accompanied by a photograph of the tree in its natural environment, along with information about its origins and uses. Cedric Pollet has combined his scientific background and his passion for plants to create a highly informative text, which complements the beauty of his photographs. Click here to order $250

210148 Proctor, Michael, & Peter Yeo (Sir Julian Huxley, et al., eds.; Jacket designed by Clifford & Rosemary Ellis) The Pollination of Flowers - The New Naturalist series, no.54 Collins, London, 1973. Octavo; hardcover, full cloth with gilt spine titles; 418pp., with 4pp. of colour plates, 56pp. of monochrome plates and many illustrations likewise. Mild wear; cocked; spine extremities mildly softened; mild toning and spotting to the text block edges; very light offset to the endpapers. Price-clipped dustwrapper is lightly rubbed and edgeworn; spine panel lightly sunned; now backed by archival-quality white paper and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $85

211982 Ratsch, Christian (John R. Baker with Annabel Lee and Cornelia Ballent, trans.) The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants Ethnopharmacology and Its Applications Park Street Press, Rochester NY, 2005. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine-titling; 942pp., with many colour illustrations. Minor wear. Dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Near fine. In the traditions of every culture, plants have been highly valued for their nourishing, healing, and transformative properties. The most powerful plants - those known to transport the human mind into other dimensions of consciousness - have traditionally been regarded as sacred. In The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants Christian Ratsch details the botany, history, distribution, cultivation, and preparation and dosage of more than 400 psychoactive plants. He discusses their ritual and medicinal usage, cultural artifacts made from these plants, and works of art that either represent or have been inspired by them. The author begins with 168 of the most well-known psychoactives - such as cannabis, datura, and papaver - then presents 133 lesser known substances as well as additional plants known as "legal highs," plants known only from mythological contexts and literature, and plant products that include substances such as ayahuasca, incense, and soma. The text is lavishly illustrated with 797 colour photographs - many of which are from the author's extensive fieldwork around the world - showing the people, ceremonies, and art related to the ritual use of the world's sacred psychoactives. Click here to order $150

42337 Ritchie, Rod Seeing the Rainforests in 19th-century Australia Rainforest Publishing, Sydney NSW, 1989. Quarto hardcover, 171pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear to board corners and faintly spotted upper text block edges; else very good to near fine in slightly rubbed dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. 'Before the European inhabitants came to accept the eucalypt and acacia vegetation, rainforests were the favoured natural aesthetic for most of the 19th century. Whether it was for recreation or as a resource these forests were both enjoyed and exploited with equal enthusiasm. There has been much written on the sclerophyll forests but little about that seemingly exotic, although indigenous, 'other', the rainforests of eastern Australia. This book analyses the images and texts from the period to reveal the prevalent attitudes and perceptions - from the preface. Click here to order $30

63962 Romanowski, Nick Grasses, Bamboos and Related Plants in Australia Lothian, Melbourne Vic., 1993. Paperback, octavo; 168pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Faint spotting to upper text block edges; mild edgewear to covers. Very good. Click here to order $18

9601 Rupp, Rev. H.M.R. The Orchids of New South Wales Government Printer of New South Wales, Sydney NSW, 1969. Facsimile reprint: octavo; hardcover, with gilt upper board titling; 176pp., with a monochrome frontispiece and many diagrams and illustrations likewise. Minor wear. Dustwrapper lightly rubbed with a few tiny tears to the edges; very slightly faded spine; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good to near fine. Facsimile edition of the book published in 1943. Click here to order $32

88744 Sandeman, Christopher (John O'Connor, illus.) Thyme and Bergamot Dropmore Press, London, 1947. Quarto hardcover; blue cloth boards with gilt spine titling and gilt decoration on centre front board with gilt decorative borders on edges of board versos; 58pp. + 9 monochrome wood engravings by John O'Connor. Many uncut page edges. Minor wear; text block edges spotted. Beige card dustwrapper with browned spine and spotting to front and rear panels; tiny missing segments at extremities of spine panel. Untrimmed page and wrapper edges and printed on a hand press on hand-made paper by Hodgkinson of Wells. From a limited print run of only 550 copies; this is number 377. "Mr. Sandeman's chief passion in life is travelling, mainly in the Andes, in search of rare plants. His 'A Forgotten River', the record of one of these journeys, now unhappily out of print, is a work eagerly sought after and deeply prized by the select company which shares his tastes. The present work, better described as a rhapsody than an essay, expresses with the feeling of a poet the underlying source of his passion.." Click here to order $40

35813 Sherwood, Shirley (ed. Victoria Matthews) Contemporary Botanical Artists The Shirley Sherwood Collection Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2005. Quarto paperback, 240pp, colour illustrations. Green cloth boards with gilt titling on spine. Minor wear; a few small marks on text block edges; mild rubbing to cover and minimal wear to edges and corner. Very good to near fine. Appendix and bibliography. Celebrating the renaissance of botanical art with work collected during the last five years from over a hundred painters, living in seventeen different countries around the world. Click here to order $40

58531 Sitwell, Sacheverell Great Flower Books 1700-1900 Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 1990. Hardcover, quarto, 189pp., monochrome and colour illustrations. Minor wear; faint spotting on upper text block edge and dustwrapper lightly worn at edges; professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Near fine. This book celebrates the world's greatest natural history monographs; of the artists and craftsmen, entrepreneurs and patrons who created the brilliant florilegiums of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Included are the works of Pierre Joseph Redoute and Robert Thornton, Georg Dionysius Ehret and Jean Louis Prevost, Samuel Curtis, George Brookshaw, and brothers Francis and Ferdinand Bauer. Handasyde Buchanan writes an overview of the period as well as an appendix detailing printing techniques used in the original published illustrations. Click here to order $60

210126 Sprunger, Samuel, Phillip J.W. Cribb & William T. Stearn (eds.) Orchids - two volumes, Texts and Illustrations from the Botanical Register 1815-1847 Birkhauser Verlag, Basel Switzerland, 1991. Two volumes, quarto. Volume 1: hardcover, with illustrated boards; 326pp. Volume 2: hardcover, full cloth with upper board titles; 322pp. with many colour and monochrome illustrations. Mild wear: Volume 1 - boards a little rubbed; some spotting to the text block edges; no dustwrapper; Volume 2 - somewhat shaken; spine heel softened; boards rubbed and spine spotted; some corner-bumping; dustwrapper rubbed and scuffed with edgewear and sunning along the spine panel. Very good in a well rubbed, illustrated slipcase with some surface tears. Click here to order $80

85104 Takama, Shinji (illus.) Bamboo of Japan Splendour in Four Seasons Graphic-sha Publishing, Tokyo, 1986. Square quarto softcover; 96pp., colour illustrations. Inscription to owner. Minor wear; lightly spotted cover spine with a few random spots on front; mild scuffing to dustwrapper with minimal wear to edges. Very good to near fine otherwise. Gathers photographs of bamboo forests and groves, bamboo shoots, leaves, blossoms, and roots, and gardens, mountains, and wildflowers. Click here to order $18

210145 Turrill, W.B. (James Fisher, et al., eds.; John Markham, et al., illus.; Jacket designed by Clifford & Rosemary Ellis) British Plant Life - The New Naturalist series, no.10 Collins, London, 1948. Octavo; hardcover, full cloth with gilt spine titles; 315pp., with 48pp. of colour plates, 24pp. of monochrome plates and many maps. Mild wear; shaken and rolled; spine sunned and extremities softened; toning to the text block edges; light offset to the endpapers; previous owner's name in ink to the flyleaf. Dustwrapper is rubbed and edgeworn; spine panel sunned and extremities chipped with some associated creasing (no loss of text or images); light chipping to the flap-turns; now backed by archival-quality white paper and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $35

210059 van Gelderen, D.M., P.C. de Jong and H.J. Oterdoom (J.R.P. van Hoey Smith, illus.) Maples of the World The Timber Press, Portland OR, 1995. Quarto hardcover; brown boards with gilt spine titling; 458pp., colour plates and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; lightly rubbed board edges and corners. Illustrated dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Near fine Click here to order $50

42586 [Various] A Vision of Eden The Life and Work of Marianne North Hot, Rinehart & Winston, New York, 1980. Hardcover, quarto, gilt titles and front board decoration; 240pp., colour illustrations. Light offsetting and foxing to preliminaries, one or two marks; toned and spotted text block edges; else very good in mildly rubbed dustwrapper (now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). A Vision of Eden, the first collection in book form of Marianne North's fabulously detailed and exotic botanical paintings, also contains excerpts from her autobiography and vivid travel memoirs (first published in 1893 under the title Recollections of a Happy Life). North, who usually travelled alone during the late nineteenth century, was a pioneer both in terms of her lush and wildly colourful artistic style and in the scope of her far-flung journeys, which took her around the world several times. Her sharp observations on nature and the state of world affairs are as intriguing and distinctive as her art to which an entire gallery at Kew Gardens with more than 800 works is devoted. Click here to order $30

42704 Vellacott, Helen (ed.) Some Recollections of a Happy Life Marianne North in Australia & New Zealand Edward Arnold, Melbourne Vic., 1986. Hardcover, small quarto; grey board with white spine titling and pink endpapers; 128pp., monochrome and some colour illustrations. Minor wear only; near fine in like dustwrapper. Key plan of Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew laid in. Marianne North was an unmarried lady of independent means born into a highly literate and artistic environment. She became an intrepid traveller, an outstanding botanical artist and an illuminating writer. Using North's two volume journal, Helen Vellacott has added fascinating biographical sketches of the characters described there with additional notes on the places she visited. Full colour reproductions of her exquisite paintings of antipodean flora and fauna with line engravings and contemporary photographs. Click here to order $25

210092 Walpole, Josephine A History and Dictionary of British Flower Painters 1650-1950 Antique Collectors Club, Woodbridge Suffolk UK, 2006. Quarto hardcover; blue boards with gilt upper board and spine titling, illustrated endpapers; 236pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear only; board corners bumped; page edges mildly toned. Illustrated dustwrapper with a few superficial scratches and mild wear to edges (now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). Very good to near fine. British flower painting has its own unique, if relatively recent, history, but it can only be judged in the light of the wider history of the subject and by comparison with other, particularly European, countries. "British Flower Painters" opens with an illustrated history giving a brief introduction to floral art worldwide before concentrating on British flower painting in the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. The Dictionary gives the biographical details of nearly one thousand British flower painters from 1650 to 1950 including their specialities, awards, exhibitions and bibliographic details. Click here to order $45

210108 White, Rev. Gilbert (E.T. Bennett & James Edmund Harting, eds.; Thomas Bewick, et al., illus.) The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne in the County of Southampton - Stereotyped edition Swan Sonnenschien & Co. Ltd., London, nd. (1874). Octavo; hardcover, upper board ruled in blind, with gilt spine titles and rules; 568pp., with many monochrome illustrations and decorations. Moderate wear; a touch shaken; spine extremities softened; some corner-bumping; text block edges lightly toned with some spotting and top edge dusted; heavy offset to the endpapers. No dustwrapper. Very good. Click here to order $60