Joseph Hooker: Botanical Trailblazer

Joseph Hooker (1817–1911) was a groundbreaking botanist who circled the globe discovering, describing, naming, or introducing over 12,000 plants that have since changed the makeup of our gardens and landscape. His plant collecting expeditions, first to Antarctica and later to India and the Himalayas, and his publications, many of which were illustrated by the prolific Victorian botanical artist Walter Hood Fitch, secured his reputation in the scientific community and attracted the attention of Charles Darwin, who became a friend and confidante. In 1865 Hooker succeeded his father Sir William Hooker as the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. And in 1877 he took a highly successful expedition to the Western United States with the leading American botanist Asa Gray. With Joseph Hooker: Botanical Trailblazer, Pat Griggs and Jim Endersby present a compelling biography of one of the world’s great botanists through the many relationships that influenced his life and shaped his ideas.
Joseph Hooker was one of the creators of the modern scientist – medical graduate, botanist, plant collector and adventurer – who circled the globe, discovering, describing, naming or introducing over 12,000 plants that have changed the face of our gardens and landscape. A confidante of Charles Darwin, he made his first plant collecting expedition to Antarctica in 1837, an epic undertaking that took him to the ends of the known world, collecting and identifying hundreds of plants. Following major expeditions to the Himalayas and India, he was appointed Assistant Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in 1855, and later traveled to the Western United States, eventually bringing back over 1000 specimens. Extensively and beautifully illustrated from the archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Joseph Hooker Botanical Trailblazer takes the reader on an extraordinary voyage with one of the world’s greatest botanists. Extensively and beautifully illustrated from the archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Joseph Hooker Botanical Trailblazer takes the reader on an extraordinary voyage with one of the world’s greatest botanists, highlighting his relationships with family, travelling companions, friends and colleagues who influenced his life and botanical ideas.
pp. 64 #150122
Art / General
Biography & Autobiography / Environmentalists & Naturalists
Design / Graphic Arts / Illustration
Nature / General
Science / Life Sciences / Botany