The history of botany and horticulture is also the history of botanical illustration. Botanical illustrations are important representations of a specimen - illustrators have to be naturalistic, detailed, scientifically accurate, and skilled at first-hand observation. They also have to, depending on the publication, show the context of the plant, how it was found. They preserve data, present information, and are in a form to disseminate that information - as works of science, they are also works of art.

Keywords: botan* illus*, botan* woodcut, botan* engrav*, botan* lithographs, flora, botanical illustrations

We are privileged to steward some truly fine examples of this art in the SCARC rare book collections. Spectacular woodcuts in early herbals such as Dodoens History of Plants, Parkinson’s Theatrum Botanicum, Gerard’s Herbal, and Fernandez's Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae, demonstrate the importance of accuracy in early modern plant identification.

Important botanical engravings in the 17th and 18th centuries appear in titles such as Nehemiah Grew's Anatomy of Plants, and John Rea's Flora seu, De florum cultura, or, A complete florilege.

SCARC's early 19th century botanical illustration holdings are particularly strong, with vivid hand-colored engravings in Curtis' Botanical Magazine, Edwards' Botanical Register, and in early journals such as the Proceedings of the Linnean Society and Transactions of the Horticultural Society.

Other 19th century gems include James Sowerby's English Botany and Colored figures of English mushrooms, as well as the breathtaking hand-colored engravings Alymer Lambert's monumental A Description of the Genus Pinus, often called the most beautiful botanical book ever printed.

Examples of nature printing and specimen mounting include Nature-printed British ferns, Hough's American Woods, and Victorian algae mounted specimen collections.

Other notable illustrative works include those that focus on the botany of specific regions, such as Linneaus' Flora Lapponica or Frye's Northwest Flora.