John Hope (1825-1786) Alan G. Morton’s Memoir of a Scottish Botanist

John Hope was a major figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, as a physician and as Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. More than 1700 men (mainly medical students) attended his innovative botanical lectures, which were held in the new botanic garden that he established on Leith Walk. In the twenty-five years since Professor Alan Morton wrote his biographical memoir much new information about Hope has come to light. The more important discoveries have been incorporated into this new and greatly enlarged edition, written by Henry Noltie a member of the RBGE staff. New information is provided on the Leith Walk garden, its design and the plants grown there, and on the cottage designed by John Adam that served as gardener’s house and Hope’s lecture room. A much more detailed account of Hope’s lectures is also provided, and the book is amply illustrated with images from Hope’s own unique collection of large-scale drawings used as visual aids in his botanical course.
Paperback. 118 pages
9781906129712