Herald of the infant spring

August 16, 2016 8:37 AM

Poetic Botany is a new exhibition from the New York Botanical Garden devoted to the transformation of botanical science into both verse and illustration. Using examples from nine different plants, the exhibit traces the ramifications of poetic botany for both science and eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century culture.

The key figures in this exhibit are Erasmus Darwin and Carl Linnaeus. Others of interest include Frances Arabella Rowden, Robert John Thornton, Elizabeth Blackwell (not to be confused with), and Pierre Bulliard (in French). A few years ago, the Chawton House Library discussed its own collections on the topic. Cf. previously on MeFi: the language of flowers.

posted by thomas j wise (1 comment total)

That Poetic Botany site has been beautifully put-together, works as well on my phone as my PC, and is thoroughly fascinating & absorbing: many thanks for another fine post, thomas j wise! I’d love to see something covering this subject in book form—is there anything for the non-specialist addressing it that you can recommend?

By the way, the first two links on the post point to the same URL, as do the the penultimate and antepenultimate ones.
posted by misteraitch at 1:42 PM on August 16, 2016