Hortus Veitchii

Hortus Veitchii Book Details

Title:
Hortus Veitchii,
A History of the Rise and Progress of the Nurseries of Messrs. James Veitch and Sons, Together with an Account of The Botanical Collectors and Hybridists Employed by Them and a List of The Most Remarkable of Their Introductions.

Author:
James H. Veitch.

Description:
Hortus Veitchii was originally published by the famous nursery firm of James Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, London in 1906 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 and hybridists, working for the nurseries of James Veitch and Son, Exeter and James Veitch and 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 and Greenhouse Plants, Insectivorous Plants, Exotic Ferns, Coniferous Trees, Trees and Shrubs and Climbing Plants, Herbaceous Plants, Bulbous Plants, Begonias, Hippeastrums, Orchid Hybridization, 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.

About the author:
James Herbert Veitch F.L.S., F.R.H.S. was born in 1868 into a family of successful nurserymen. He was the eldest son of John Gould Veitch and like his father was to become a botanist and plant collector for the family nursery firm of James Veitch and Sons, Chelsea. Following a tour to the Far East and Australasia during 1891-1893 he wrote A Traveller's Notes which was published by James Veitch and Sons in 1896. He returned to England to become managing director of the firm in 1900, on the retirement of his uncle, Harry James Veitch (later Sir Harry). In November 1906, shortly after the publication of Hortus Veitchii, he retired from his duties due to ill health. This caused Harry Veitch to come out of retirement and return to lead the business until its eventual closure in 1914. James Herbert Veitch died in Exeter in November 1907, aged only 39.

Availability: September 2006
ISBN 13: 978-0-9553515-0-1
UK Price: (£ Sterling): £95.00
Edition: Hardback, maroon board, buff jacket.
Numbered limited edition, 1000 copies only
Dimensions: 244 × 155mm
Number of Pages: 648
Photographs: 50 black and white, full page plates.
Publisher: Caradoc Doy

Various extracts have been reproduced from Gardeners' Chronicle magazine with the permission of the copyright holder, Haymarket Business Publications Limited.

Every effort has been made to contact the holders of copyright material, and any omissions are entirely unintentional and will be corrected in future editions if the publisher is notified in writing.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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Hortus Veitchii

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Hortus Veitchii Spine & Cover
Jacket for Hortus Veitchii, scanned from an original, rare, surviving cover.