Hortus Veitchii (A centenary reprint of the 1906 edition)

Originally published privately in 1906, this is a facsimile reprint, limited to 1000 numbered copies. This new and unused copy is # 254.

Hortus Veitchii was originally published by the famous nursery firm of Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, London to commemorate the huge contribution made by this firm to western gardens in the introduction of new plants from around the world. This book is a study of the history of the botanical plant collecting explorers & hybridists, working for the nurseries of James Veitch & Son, Exeter and James Veitch & Sons, Chelsea during the period of 1840-1906. This includes chapters on the following; Lives of Travellers, Lives of Hybridists, Orchid Species, Orchid Hybrids, Stove & Greenhouse Plants, Insectivorous Plants, Exotic Ferns, Coniferous Trees, Trees & Shrubs and Climbing Plants, Herbaceous Plants, Bulbous Plants, Begonias, Hippeastrums, Nepenthes, Greenhouse Rhododendrons, Streptocarpus, Fruits and Vegetables.

This facsimile edition of the classic work has been published in Great Britain in 2006 to mark the centenary of its original publication, with the objective that profits generated can be used to establish a permanent collection of plants introduced by the Veitch Nurseries. This will contain many plants which are now rare or endangered in the wild as well as many varieties well known to modern gardeners. Hortus Veitchii is a work of social and historical interest and has been produced with the intention of providing a reproduction of the original book as far as is possible. This has included careful hand scanning of each page, using quality materials of a similar nature and colour, reproducing the blocked foil lettering, block finishing to the cover as well as replicating the original dust jacket. The main difference has been to print to the same dimensions as Veitch’s Manual of Orchidaceous Plants and Veitch’s A Manual of Coniferae which is a more convenient size for modern bookcases and will sit neatly next to these other Veitch titles.

Red cloth bound in a cream dustwrapper.