Flora illustrata Great works from the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden

Book - 2014

The renowned LuEsther T. Mertz Library of The New York Botanical Garden counts among its holdings many of the most beautiful and pioneering botanical and horticultural works ever created. More than eight centuries of knowledge, from the twelfth century to the present, are represented in the library's collection of over one million items. In this sumptuously illustrated volume, international experts introduce us to some of the library's most fascinating works--exceedingly rare books, stunning botanical artworks, handwritten manuscripts, Renaissance herbals, nursery catalogs, explorers' notebooks, and more. The contributors hold these treasures up for close inspection and offer surprising insights into their histories and impor...tance.

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Published
Bronx, New York : New Haven ; London : The New York Botanical Garden ; Yale University Press [2014]
©2014
Language
English
Physical Description
xxiii, 296 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 30 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-288) and index.
ISBN
9780300196627
  • Noble science : building the library collection / Susan M. Fraser
  • European medieval and Renaissance herbals / Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi
  • "Plants in their perfection" : the botanical garden and the illustrated book / Therese O'Malley
  • Pleasure gardens in print : recreation and education in the landscape, 1550-1850 / Vanessa Bezemer Sellers
  • Linnaeus and the foundation of modern botany / Gina Douglas
  • New World explorations : Brazil / H. Walter Lack
  • Creating a North American flora / Elizabeth S. Eustis with David Andrews
  • Early American horticultural traditions : gardening with plants from the New World / Mark Laird
  • Toward an American landscape theory / Judith K. Major
  • The horticultural enterprise : markets, mail, and media in nineteenth-century America / Elizabeth S. Eustis
  • "An American Kew" / Elizabeth Barlow Rogers.
Review by Choice Review

This publication marks the 125th anniversary of the New York Botanical Garden. Its text consists of 11 essays written by an international group of experts. Each essay is copiously illustrated with color reproductions taken from the significant original publications and manuscripts in the garden's celebrated Mertz Library. The book is not only beautiful to look at but also valuable for the emphasis in the text sections on the historical progress leading to improved plant identification and representation, the contributions of artists in the advancement of botany, and not least, the endeavors of plant explorers over more than eight centuries. Both horticulture and garden design are included, and both are considered from a wide geographic viewpoint. The first and last chapters focus on how the garden's library collection was created and how the garden's landscape was developed. This book is an admirable effort, "sumptuously illustrated," and convincingly written to bring together and emphasize the shared scientific importance and beauty of the plant world. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. --Leroy G. Kavaljian, California State University, Sacramento

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review

The living archive that is the New York Botanical Garden, now celebrating its 125th anniversary, is mirrored by the millions of extraordinary and rare historical European and American botanical books, documents, and art works housed in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library. This lush volume highlights a select group of those precious holdings. The opening essay by library director Fraser covers the history of this sterling collection, and readers will be instantly captivated by the gorgeous reproductions of botanical illustrations depicting an exquisite anemone, lustrous ears of corn, and a marvelously graceful underwater depiction of seaweeds, each subject rendered with scientific exactitude and aesthetic bliss. An impressive roster of contributors provides essays on medieval and renaissance herbals, aristocratic pleasure gardens, and Carolus Linnaeus' foundational classification system. A robust, frontier energy is palpable in the earliest botanicals depicting the wild bounty of North American flora, from poison ivy to the giant redwood, while the rise of American horticulture is charted in seed packets and catalogs. A sumptuous, illuminating, and celebratory tour through the art and science of botany and gardening.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2014 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

This richly informative, visually stunning book showcases illustrations from the vast collection of printed matter housed at the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden. With chapters written by international scholars in botanical science, it includes beautifully detailed images printed on heavy matte paper, an overview of botanists' contributions to science, and a history of horticulture, garden design, and the rise of color illustrations in botanical publications and marketing materials. The plated images reproduce a variety of media ranging from early watercolors and engravings to the "flamboyant peak" of seed-catalogue illustrations in 1890. The book closes with a detailed chapter on the construction of the New York Botanical Garden, showing blueprints, maps, and aerial photographs. This enchanting collection is a comprehensive resource on the history, science, and art of botany, and an object of beauty in itself. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

This work achieves its editors' aim to inspire in the reader an appreciation for the history of botany and its connections to art and science. Through its lavish depictions of illustrated manuscripts, botanical renderings, maps, and plans for gardens drawn from the collection of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Gardens and essays authored by 11 experts, the impressive tome shares eight centuries of research and knowledge in the library's collection about horticulture, printing and publishing, and exploration. This collection began in 1885 when Henry Hurd Rusby of Columbia College started collecting plants in South America. When he returned to the United States with his specimens, he realized he did not have the resources needed to identify them. Thus began both the garden and the library. The research behind each chapter is supported by endnotes. In addition to the index and select bibliography, the title includes contributors' backgrounds. VERDICT A wonderful title for the botanist and layperson anyone who appreciates the aesthetic beauty of books, plants, and gardens. Nancy J. Mactague, Aurora Univ. Lib., IL (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.