Ebury Press and Michael Joseph, 1969, Hardback in dust wrapper.
2nd (revised) edition, 1st printing, [First Published: 1965] Illustrated by way of: Colour Plates;
From the cover: "This great best-seller has now been extensively revised. As well as many additional plants being described, other changes of name and detail make the new edition still first in the field for up to date information.
The most beautiful of all books on the Flora of Britain is the triumphant outcome of no less than sixty years of meticulous and devoted study, research, note-making and exquisite draughtsmanship. Of the thousands of species exactly and precisely described in the text, nearly 1400 are depicted in full colour plates which are remarkable for precision of detail and fidelity of colour. With additional illustrations in black-and-white, a comprehensive glossary and a complete index — the nomenclature edited by Douglas H. Kent — this is a major contribution to botanical study and illustration, combining, as it does, sheer beauty of execution with down to earth botanical accuracy. As a reference work of identification to be used by botanists and students, it is invaluable, and is likely to become a classic study. As a work of art it will delight all who appreciate the richness of the British Flora.
The Reverend William Keble Martin was born in 1877 and during his schooldays at Marlborough he was an enthusiastic lepi-dopterist and botanist, taking Botany as a degree subject when he went up to Oxford. Students in the Botanic Gardens were accustomed to draw specimens as seen under the microscope and this habit of meticulous, detailed work is reflected in the exquisite illustrations to this book. For some time Mr Martin's home was in Darlington where he was surrounded by extensive woods and water, an ideal situation for the study of birds, insects, mosses and flowers.
After his ordination Mr Martin worked for eighteen years as Curate or Vicar in industrial parishes in the north of England and during 1918 as a Chaplain to the Forces in France. The idea of the Flora was always close at hand, but there was little time to devote to it. After the war he moved to Devon where, in different parishes, he was able to study different flora, but the years were busy and sometimes Mr Martin's own holiday, which he liked to spend on his research, had to be very short. After a busy Sunday he would catch a late train, sometimes travelling as far afield as Scotland, and following his explorations some of the flowers he had found would often be drawn in the train on the return journey on Thursday.
Mr Martin was an active member of the two Botanical Exchange Clubs and of the International Botanical Congress 1930, and was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1928. He edited a comprehensive Flora of Devon for the Devon Association in 1939 and was an active member of the first Nature Reserves Committee. In 1949 he resigned his benefice at what he describes as the early age of seventy-two, but continued to take temporary charge of occasional vacant parishes, usually spending six to twelve months in each. This gave him some spare time which he devoted to the redrawing of a number of the plates."
Introduction by: H.R.H. The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Very Good — in Very Good Dust Wrapper. Dust wrapper a little tanned as is the edge of the text block. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper. Text complete, clean and tight.
Green boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 254 pages. Index. 10½" x 7¾".
This book will be eventually reach my delightful website...(added to my Botany category.) but get 60% off buying from this very blog blog... Buy it now for just £2.60 + P&P! Of course, if you don't like this one there are plenty more available here!
