PLANT HUNTING TITLES FROM

PLANT HUNTING TITLES

Lionel Bacon, MOUNTAIN FLOWER HOLIDAYS IN EUROPE. (St. Johns, UK: Alpine Garden Society, 1979) 293 pp., index, appendices, ill. with color & b&w photos & line drawings in the text. an uncommon modern guide to plant hunting in the mountains of continental Europe. v.g. copy in slightly worn d.j. $15

Jane Brown, TALES OF THE ROSE TREE: Ravishing Rhododendrons and Their Travels Around the World. (NY: Harper Collins, 2004) 308 pp., index, notes, recommended list of gardens to visit. well ill. with period color & black-and-white plates. The fascinating story of the discovery of azaleas and rhododendrons by plant hunters and their introduction into gardens. v.g. copy in d.j. $15

Alice Coats, THE PLANT HUNTERS. (NY: McGraw-Hill, 1970) 440 pp., 26 ills., bibliography; Arranged by region and covering the period from the Renaissance to the 20th century, this is the most comprehensive overall work on plant hunting to date, and has become rather scarce. a v.g. copy in d.j. $25

R[onald] E[dgar] Cooper & A[lexander] O[rmiston] Curle & W.S. Fair, GEORGE FORREST, VMH. (Haddington, UK: Scottish Rock Garden Club, 1973 [1935]) 89 pp., bibliography, well ill. with period b&w photos. A quality reissue of an early biography of a often neglected plant hunter. a v.g. copy in plum cloth binding. $25

E[uan] H[Hilhouse] M[ethven] Cox, PLANT HUNTING IN CHINA. (London: Scientific Book Club, n.d. [1945]) 230 pp., ill.; A comprehensive history of botanical exploration in China and Tibet from the 16th through the 20th centuries, including the author's own involvement. v.g. copy of this compact edition in its original pictorial paper covered cloth binding. $20

E[uan] H[Hilhouse] M[ethven] Cox, FARRER'S LAST JOURNEY, Upper Burma, 1919-1920, Together With a Complete List of All Rhododendrons Collected by Reginald Farrer, and His Field Notes, Compiled by Miss Helen Maxwell, Assistant in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh. (London: Dulau & Co., Ltd, 1926) 244 pp., index, two appendices [the above-mentioned plant lists], ill. with b&w photos and maps on the end-papers. a very rare and extremely important highly detailed account of Farrer's tragic final expedition. a v.g., clean, tight and attractive copy in original plum cloth binding. $170

Marguerite Duval, THE KING'S GARDEN. (Charlottesville, Va.: University of Virginia Press, 1982) translated by Annette Tomarken and Claudie Cowen. 214 pp., ill., index; an important scholarly work on the often neglected stories of botanical expeditions conducted for the French Crown from the 17th through the 19th centuries. v.g. copy in d.j. $15

Tom Hart Dyke & Paul Winder, THE CLOUD GARDEN: A True Story of Adventure, Survival, and Extreme Horticulture. (Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2003) 323 pp.. ill. with a map. The amazing story of the dangers of modern day plant-hunting in the Darien Divide in Panama and Columbia. v.g. copy in d.j. $10

Virginia S. Eifert, TALL TREES AND FAR HORIZONS: Author of Journeys in Green Places. (NY: Dodd Mead, 1965) 301 pp., index, bibliography, ill. with b&w photos, maps, and drawings in the text. an excellent summary of plant hunting in all parts of North America. minor writing on front free end-paper, o/w a v.g. copy in d.j. $15

David Fairchild, GARDEN ISLANDS OF THE EAST. (NY: Scribners, 1945 [1943]) 239 pp., ill., index; an account of the author's 1940 expedition to Java, Borneo and the South Seas. v.g. copy in torn d.j. $15

David Fairchild, THE WORLD GROWS ROUND MY DOOR. (NY: Scribners, 1947) 1st edition. 347 pp., ill., index the story of the creation of tropical garden at "Kampong" in South Florida using plants he brought from the tropics. end-papers darkened, o/w a v.g. copy in badly torn d.j. $15

Edward I. Farrington, ERNEST H. WILSON—PLANT HUNTER. (Boston: Stratford, 1931) 1978 pp., ill., includes extensive list of plant introductions; Published a year after his death, this remains the first of the renowned plant hunter's standard biographies. minor edge wear, o/w a v.g. copy in green cloth binding. $20

Mark Flanagan & Tony Kirkham, PLANTS FROM THE EDGE OF THE WORLD: New Explorations in the Far East. (Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2005) large format octavo, 312 pp., index, bibliography, ill. with color photos taken in the field. The little-know story of recent plant-hunting exploits in eastern Asia and the Orient. v.g. copy in d.j. $25

Daniel Foley, THE FLOWERING WORLD OF CHINESE WILSON. (NY: Macmillan, 1969) 233 pp., ill., bibliography; a brief biographical sketch followed by selections from his writings & descriptive information on his most famous plant introductions. v.g. copy in d.j. $10

T. Harper Goodspeed, PLANT HUNTING IN THE ANDES. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961 [1941]) 429 pp., many photos; An excellent detailed account of plant exploration in the Andes between 1935 and 1939. v.g. copy in torn d.j. $20

Mary & John Gribbin, FLOWER HUNTERS. (NY: Oxford University Press, 2008) 332 pp., index, bibliography, notes, ill. with a few period color and b&w plates. a refreshing new work covering 11 notable plant hunters from Linnaeus to Hooker. fine copy in colorful d.j. $20

B[enjamin] J. Healey, THE PLANT HUNTERS. (NY: Scribners, 1975) 214 pp., index, a few b&w ills., a highly readable overview of plant hunting. v.g. copy in d.j. $15

F. Nigel Hepper [Editor], PLANT HUNTING FOR KEW. (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1989) large format octavo, 222 pp., index, bibliography, many ills. in color, quality softbound edition (very few copies of the hardcover edition were printed); an excellent work covering plant hunting expeditions originating from Kew from 1772 to the present. neat owner's ink stamp on front free end-paper, o/w a v.g. copy of a quality softbound work. $10

Jaime Jaramillo-Arango [compiler], THE JOURNALS OF HIPOLITO RUIZ, Spanish Botanist in Peru and Chile, 1777-1788. (Portland, OR: Timber Press, 1998) Translated by Richard Evans Schultes and Maria Jose Nemry von Thenen de Jaramillo-Arango, 357 pp., indices, ill. with color reproductions of early maps and b&w reproduction of journal pages. A meticulously reproduced work presenting this important manuscript journal for the world for the first time. v.g. copy in d.j. $20

Frank Kingdon-Ward, BURMA'S ICY MOUNTAINS. London: Cape, 1949) 287 pp., ill. with photos, fold-out map. Covering two expeditions in northern Burma in 1937-1939, this is one of the author's scarcest works. end-papers a little darkened, o/w a v.g. copy in original blue cloth binding. $75

Frank Kingdon-Ward, PILGRIMAGE FOR PLANTS. (London: Harrap, 1960) 191 pp., index, ill., appendices, complete bibliography of the authors writings and a list of his expeditions; Includes a brief biographical sketch by William T. Stearn--the author's final work, published posthumously. v.g. copy in soiled, torn d.j. $50

Frank Kingdon-Ward, THE LAND OF THE BLUE POPPY, Travels of a Naturalist in Eastern Tibet. (Sakonnet, RI: Theophrastus, 1973) 215 pp., ill. with maps and photos by the author. Kingdon-Ward's first work, originally published in 1913, is extremely scarce in the original edition. This is an excellent quality reprint (it is identical to the Minerva Press edition) and has also become rather scarce itself. v.g. copy in d.j. $50

Roy Lancaster, A PLANTSMAN IN NEPAL. (Woodbridge, UK: Antique Collectors Club, 1995) 240 pp., quarto index, ill., appendices, bibliography; the revised and expanded edition of the above work. v.g. copy in d.j. $50

Roy Lancaster, PLANT HUNTING IN NEPAL. (London: Croom Helm, 1981) 194 pp., index, ill., appendices, bibliography; becoming quite scarce: an account of an expedition in the autumn of 1971 in eastern Nepal. v.g. copy in d.j. $25

Prudence Leith-Ross, THE JOHN TRADESCANTS: Gardeners To the Rose and Lily Queen. (London: Peter Owen, 1984) 320 pp., index, notes, appendices, genealogical chart; ill. in b&w from period sources. a well-researched recent work, already scarce, drawing on some newly uncovered original source materials. near fine copy in d.j. $45

Kenneth Lemmon, THE GOLDEN AGE OF PLANT HUNTERS. (S. Brunswick, NJ: Barnes, 1969) quarto, 229 pp., index, well ill. in color and b&w; a well researched & written work containing fresh new material covering the period 1760-1860, that has become rather scarce. v.g. copy in worn d.j. $15

Conrad Lighton, CAPE FLORAL KINGDON: Classic Story of South Africa's Wild Flowers. (Wynberg, S.A.: Juta & Co., 1973) 222 pp., index, bibliography, chronology, maps on decorative end-papers, ill. with fine color photos and a few b&w line drawings in the text. The fascinating story of the discovery and resulting fame of Namaqualand and the Table Mountain area, renowned for some of the most spectacular wild flowers in the world. v.g. copy in worn d.j. $10

Charles Lyte, FRANK KINGDON-WARD: The Last of the Great Plant Hunters. (London: John Murray, 1989) 218 pp., index, bibliography, list of his expeditions, ill. with b&w photos. The fascinating story of the life and career of one the most important plant hunters: the only biography of Kingdon-Ward, and rather scarce. v.g. copy in d.j. $35

James D. Mauseth & Roberto Kiesling & Carlos Ostolaza, A CACTUS ODYSSEY: Journeys in the Wilds of Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina. (Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2000) 306 pp., index, map, ill. with color photos taken in the field. modern-day plant hunters uncover an amazing variety of cacti in various habitats in South America. v.g. copy in d.j. $15

Susan Delano McKelvey, BOTANICAL EXPLORATION OF THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI WEST, 1790-1850. (Jamaica Plain, MA: Arnold Arboretum, 1955) 1144 pp., index, notes, appendices, ill. with fold-out maps. An exhaustive, scholarly study that has never been duplicated. fine copy in green cloth binding with gilt lettering. $200

Ann Lindsay Mitchell & Syd House, DAVID DOUGLAS: Explorer and Botanist. (London: Aurum Press, 1999) 241 pp., index, bibliography, appendices, ill, with b&w photos and reproductions of documents. an excellent new study of this plant hunter's work in the Pacific Northwest and Hudson's Bay. v.g. copy in d.j. $25

William Morwood, TRAVELLER IN A VANISHED LANDSCAPE, The Life and Times of David Douglas. (NY: Potter, 1973) 244 pp., ill., bibliography; The American imprint of the only available interpretive work on Douglas and his travels. v.g. copy in slightly worn d.j. $15

William Morwood, TRAVELLER IN A VANISHED LANDSCAPE, The Life and Times of David Douglas. (London: Gentry, 1973) 244 pp., ill., bibliography; The scarce English imprint of the only available interpretive Douglas and his travels. v.g. copy in slightly worn d.j. $15

Toby Musgrave & Chris Gardner & Will Musgrave, THE PLANT HUNTERS: Two Hundred Years of Adventure and Discovery Around the World. (London: Ward Lock, 1999 [1998]) large format octavo, decorative end-papers, 224 pp., index, bibliography, well. ill. in color and b&w with new photos, maps, and period materials. An attractive and comprehensive new work including coverage of some of the lesser known figures. fine copy in d.j. $20

Patrick O'Brian, JOSEPH BANKS: A Life. (Boston: Godine, 1993) 328 pp., index, bibliography, notes, ill, with a few b&w ills.; a useful up-to-date biography of Banks (1743-1820), which devotes some space to his involvement in botanical exploration. v.g. copy in d.j. $20

Jennifer Potter, STRANGE BLOOMS: The Curious Lives and Adventures of the John Tradescants. (London: Atlantic Books, 2006) 464 pp., index, bibliography, notes, ill. with period b&w plates. An excellent new account of the story of the father and son plant hunters. fine copy in d.j. $25

[Thomas] Mayne Reid, THE PLANT HUNTERS: Or, Adventures Among the Himalaya Mountains. (NY: James Miller, 1882 [1866]) 352 pp., ill. with a fanciful engraved frontis. This is actually a novel, but the real-life adventures of plant hunters were equally exciting. "Captain" Mayne Reid (1818-1883) was a well know author of Dime Novels and other popular fiction. His own life was not without its own adventures. wear at top and bottom of b.s., foxing towards extremities, o/w a v.g., tight copy in burgundy cloth binding with gilt decoration. $15

Karl Sabbagh, THE RUM AFFAIR: The True Story of a Botanical Fraud. (NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2000) 276 pp., index, Notes, appendix, ill. with b&w photos. The fascinating account of a botanical hoax committed by British botanist Heslip Harrison, who claimed to find important new plant species on the desolate island of Rum in the Hebrides in the 1940s. The fraud was uncovered by botanist/author John Raven, but was not revealed until following Raven's death in 1980. v.g. copy in d.j. $10

H[elen] J[o] Samuel, WILD FLOWER HUNTER: The Story Of Ellis Rowan. (London: Constable & Co., 1961) 151 pp., bibliography, ill. with charming line drawings by Maie Casey and a full color bouquet, a sample of Ms. Rowan's work. A highly readable account of the life of Ellis Rowan (1848-1922), an intrepid female plant hunter in Australia, New Guinea, and New Zealand, and while in America the acclaimed illustrator for three of Alice Lounsberry's works on native plants. v.g. copy in worn, well soiled d.j. $15

Charles S. Sargeant, PLANTAE WILSONIANAE: An Enumeration of the Woody Plants Collected in Western China for the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University During the Years 1907, 1908, and 1910 by E.H. Wilson. (Portland: Dioscorides Press, 1988) 3 volumes, 1964 pp., index, numerical listing of plant collections; a valuable and now scarce reprint of the original work of 1913-1917 which is now virtually unobtainable ─ a reference for the serious plant hunting scholar. v.g. set in d.j.'s. $25

Nicola Shulman, A RAGE FOR ROCK GARDENING: The Story of Reginald Farrer: gardner, writer & plant collector. (Boston: David L. Godine, 2002) 120 pp., index, ill. with a few contemporary color and b&w plates. A highly readable new biography of the unforgettable plant hunter, who packed many adventures into a 40‑year life. v.g. copy in d.j. $10

F[rank] Smythe, THE VALLEY OF THE FLOWERS. (NY: Norton: 1949) first American edition. 322 pp., index, 2 maps and 16 color plates; photographic and botanical notes and list of plants collected. The author was a mountain climber and amateur gardener who travelled to the Bhyundar Valley in 1937 and collected 250 different plants at high elevations. owner's name, front end-papers darkened from contact with acidic paper and tape, o/w a v.g. copy in well preserved d.j., with an original review (probably from the New York Times) included. $15

Stephen Spongberg, A REUNION OF TREES: The Discovery of Exotic Plants and Their Introduction into North American and European Landscapes. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990) quarto, 270 pp., index, bibliography, notes, ill. from period source materials. an excellent work on trees and shrubs brought back by plant hunters, emphasizing those brought to the Arnold Arboretum. v.g. copy in d.j. $15

Patrick M. Synge, THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON: An Expedition to the Equatorial Mountains of Africa. (London: Lindsay Drummond/Travel Book Club, 1938 [1937]) 221 pp., index, map and itinerary, ill. with b&w photos and monochrome reproductions of the fascinating paintings of Stuart Somerville. A quality edition of a highly readable account of travels in search of exotic plants, now the author's scarcest title. v.g. copy in slightly soiled bicolor cloth covered boards with minimal wear. $15

W[illiam] B[ertram] Turrill, JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER. (London: Scientific Book Club, 1963) 228 pp., index, bibliography, 3 maps. An older but still useful biography of the famous scientist and plant hunter. v.g. copy in slightly worn, d.j. $10

Bobby Ward, THE PLANT HUNTER'S GARDEN: A World of Fascinating Plants for Adventurous Gardeners. ( Portland , OR : Timber Press, 2007) 340 pp., index, bibliography, ill. with outstanding color photos. A very informative work on newly discovered plants introduced into cultivation int he last 50 years. v.g. copy in d.j. $20

[Michael] Tyler Whittle, THE PLANT HUNTERS. (Phila., Chilton, 1970) 281 pp., ill., index; probably the most readable of the general works on plant hunters. v.g. copy in slightly worn d.j. $15

Ernest H. Wilson, A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA, with Vasculum, Camera, and Gun. (NY: Doubleday Page & Co., 1913) 1st American edition (from British sheets) 2 volumes, 251, 229 pp., index, fold-out map ill. with 101 b&w photos. Wilson describes this work as "some account of eleven years travel, exploration, and observation in the more remote parts of the flowery kingdom." This is the very scarce early work of Wilson's that would later be reconstituted as China, Mother of Gardens. Some foxing, a little spot of wear to the front cover of Volume 1, o/w a v.g. set in dark green cloth binding with gilt decoration. $350

Ernest H. Wilson, PLANT HUNTING. (Boston: Stratford, 1927) 2 vols., 248, 276 pp., 1st & only edition; ill. with b&w photos throughout. an important and thorough work covering all of his expeditions. damp stain to front end papers and barely to next leaf of Vol. I, o/w a v.g., well preserved set of this increasingly scarce classic. $150

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