Review by Choice Review
This richly illustrated and near folio-sized book contains iconic and telling botanical illustrations from the last 3,616 years. With minimal text but extensive indexing, this collection invites quiet reflection on human's relationship with plants. Also included is a time line of major events in botanical discovery, horticulture, and the uses of plants. It is as idiosyncratic as the selected imagery and is well-worth a leisurely skim. However, the index makes this collection of images valuable as a reference work. With 2,154 entries, the index is much more than just a machine-generated, text-based cross-reference. While providing a means of looking up an illustration by common or Latin name, it also singles out identifiable plants from art works that do not directly identify the plant either in the illustration or the caption. It provides the same service for artists or their artistic influence. While a work of many contributors (both artists and writers), the editorial staff deserves much credit for the book's usefulness. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --George C. Stevens, University of New Mexico
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
This wondrous work about art, biology, and nature is international in scope, presenting notable images from prehistoric times to the present. Artworks are juxtaposed to allow the viewer to compare and contrast the images placed on opposite pages. A photograph of a spring crocus in UV light is opposite an epi-illumination (light shone through a microscope) of a tribulus bud; a radiographe des fleurs faces a California tree poppy rendered in glass. Other images include engravings, lithographs, oil paintings, watercolors, sculpture, fabric cyanotypes, X-rays, color-enhanced scanning electron micrographs (SEM), traditional pen-and-ink sketches, and more. The artists represented range from Georgia O'Keeffe and Beatrix Potter to Charles Darwin and John Ruskin, among others. Under each image is a fascinating brief synopsis about the artist, their process, technique, and/or other notable or historical details about the object or plant displayed. This book concludes with a time line relating to the items included, a plant taxonomy and glossary, and selected biographical sketches. VERDICT If you purchase one art book that will inspire, -educate, delight, and epitomize nature, then this is the volume to get.-Stephen Allan Patrick, Jonesborough, TN © Copyright 2016. 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.
