PLANT  HUNTING  TITLES

Tomasz Anisko, PLANT EXPLORATION FOR LONGWOOD GARDENS.  (Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2006)  quarto, 364 pp., index, bibliography, ill. with maps and color photos, many taken in the wild.  A comprehensive study of their plant collection expeditions, mostly in the latter half of the 20th century.  very good copy in d.j.  $25

Janice Beaty, PLANTS IN HIS PACK: A Life of Edward Palmer, Adventurous Botanist and Collector.  (NY: Pantheon, 1964)  182 pp., bibliography, ill. with line drawings by Joan Berg.  a scarce and highly readable brief biography.  very good copy in pictorial boards.  $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.  very good copy in d.j.  $10

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 very good 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 very good 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.  very good 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.  (London: Dulau & Co., Ltd, 1926)  Compiled by Miss Helen Maxwell, Assistant in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh.  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.  $200

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.  very good copy in d.j.  $15

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 very good 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. very good copy in 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 very good 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-known story of recent plant-hunting exploits in eastern Asia and the Orient.  very good 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.  very good copy in d.j.  $5

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.  very good copy in d.j.  signed by the author.  $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.  very good 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.  $15

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.  very good 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.  a very good copy of a quality softbound work.  $12

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.  very good 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 very good 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.  very good 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.  very good copy in d.j.  $35

Roy Lancaster, IN SEARCH OF THE WILD ASPARAGUS.  (London: Michael Joseph, 1983)  large format octavo, 128 pp., index, bibliography, glossary, list of botanical names, ill. with color photos and b&w line drawings by Joanna Langhorne.  a fascinating work on the search for British wild plants and weeds written with the flair of a plant hunter in remote regions of the world.  very good copy in slightly worn d.j.  $10

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.  very good 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.  very good copy in d.j.  $20

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.  $35

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.  very good copy in worn d.j.  $10

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.  very good 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.  very good copy in d.j.  $35

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.  very good 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.  very good 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.  very good copy in slightly worn d.j.  $15

Susan Munger, COMMON TO THIS COUNTRY: Botanical Discoveries of Lewis and Clark.  (NY: Artisan, 2003)  Foreword by Verlyn Klinkenborg.  128 pp., bibliography, map, ill. with lovely water colors by Charlotte Staub Thomas and reproduction of old documents.  an attractive work on the 200+ plants collected on their expedition.  very good copy in d.j.  $15

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.  very good copy in d.j.  $15

[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.  very good copy in d.j.  $5

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.  very good copy in worn, well soiled d.j.  $15

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.  very good 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 very good copy in well preserved d.j., with an original review (probably from the New York Times) included.  $15

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.  very good copy in darkened, slightly torn d.j.  $10

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.  very good 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.  very good 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.  very good 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 in the last 50 years.  very good 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.  very good copy in slightly worn d.j.  $10

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

Andrea Wulf, THE BROTHER GARDENERS: Botany, Empire, and the Birth of an Obsession.  (London: William Heinemann, 2008)  356 pp., index, bibliography, glossary, notes, ill. with a few b&w reproductions in the text.  A refreshing new take on the role of Peter Collinson and his botanist, plant hunter and horticultural colleagues and his desire to introduce many so new ornamental plants to British gardens.  very good copy in d.j.  $15