A comprehensive and accessible historical and artistic survey of botanical illustration

Perhaps the most important book on botanical painting ever published

This major work, first published in 1950, is still considered the classic book on the subject. It provides a comprehensive, critical and well-illustrated survey of the portrayal of plants across over three thousand years, at a more compact size. Of the first edition, the poet and gardening writer, Vita Sackville-West said: "Let no one think this is a book only for the specialist. It is essential for the specialist, certainly, but it is also for all the flower-lovers and all those who enjoy the by-ways of biography and the added attraction of good writing". This edition contains 126 color plates (more than twice as many as the first edition), alongside 140 black-and-white illustrations. It invites the reader to appreciate the works of the greatest botanical illustrators both past and present.