Egmond's study investigates horticultural techniques, fashions in the collection of rare plants, botanical experimentation and methods of scientific evaluation, as well as tracking the exchange of knowledge. Central to this activity is the figure of Carolus Clusius (1526-1609), the first truly scientific botanist.

A Cultural History of Plants in the Early Modern Era covers the period from 1400 to 1650, a time of discovery and rediscovery, of experiment and innovation. Renaissance learning brought ancient knowledge to modern European consciousness whilst exploration placed all the continents in contact with one another. The dissemination of knowledge was further speeded by the spread of printing. New staples and spices, new botanical medicines, and new garden plants all catalysed agriculture, trade, and science. The great medical botanists of the period attempted no less than what Marlowe's Dr Faustus demanded - a book “wherein I might see all plants, herbs, and trees that grow upon the earth.” Human impact on plants and our botanical knowledge had irrevocably changed. The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Plants presents the first comprehensive history of the uses and meanings of plants from prehistory to today. The themes covered in each volume are plants as staple foods; plants as luxury foods; trade and exploration; plant technology and science; plants and medicine; plants in culture; plants as natural ornaments; the representation of plants. Andrew Dalby is an independent scholar and writer, based in France. Annette Giesecke is Professor of Classics at the University of Delaware, USA. Volume 3 in the Cultural History of Plants set. General Editors: Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware, USA, and David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK.

Proceedings of a Conference held in London, 15-17 September 1999, organized by The Association for Low Countries Studies, University College London, Centre for Dutch and Flemish Culture, The British Library, Dutch and Flemish section, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine. Twenty-five papers by experts in their particular period or area were selected for publication. Covering almost five centuries, they represent a wholly modern approach to the history of the book and publishing in a European context, highlighting for the first time the crucial role of the Low Countries in transmitting the intellectual heritage of an area well beyond their own changing borders. Illustrated.

Roses and rose gardens / Elvin McDonald -- Formal gardens / Penelope Hobhouse -- Tulips and the spring bulbs / Allen Paterson -- Japanese gardens : an accretionary approach / Teiji Itoh, translated by Lynne E. Riggs -- Flowers and flower gardens / Ann Lovejoy -- Tropical gardens / Katherine Whiteside -- Country gardens / John Brookes -- Public gardens / Madison Cox.