Find Books

This only searches the 12,000+ titles on this website, not the 400,000+ books in our shops!

Pursuit of Plants, In: Experiences of Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Plant Collectors

Philip Short

$22.00

Sold Out

In Surinam plant hunter F.W. Hostmann allowed vampire bats to suck his toes; in west Africa William Grant Milne was forced to sell his clothes and travel naked for 200 miles; Thomas Drummond was attacked by a bear in the North American woods; George Forrest narrowly escaped rampaging lamas in western China; and, in Fiji, Berthold Seemann recorded which plants cannibals used as an accompaniment to human flesh. These and other incidents are recorded in this compilation of fascinating first-hand accounts of the experiences of nineteenth and early-twentieth-century collectors in their pursuit of plants from around the world. Extracted from journals and letters, some previously unpublished, the accounts are a mix of adventure, of sometimes grim but always captivating and occasionally humorous images of a lost world, and of stories of the practical problems associated with plant collecting.

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND: R.W. Lawrence, J. Drummond, W. Colenso, F.W.L. Leichhardt, F.J.H. Mueller, W.E.P. Giles, D. Sullivan, W.B. Spencer, F.J. Gillen, M. Koch, W.A. Michell.

pp. xvi, 351 illusts. First Edition. FINE copy. #1020

Additional Information

AuthorPhilip Short
PublisherUniversity Of Western Australia Press
Year Published2003
Book Condition

FINE

Binding Type

Hardcover in Dustjacket

Elizabeth’s Bookshops have been one of Australia’s premier independent book dealers since 1973. Elizabeth’s family-owned business operates four branches in Perth CBD, Fremantle (WA), and Newtown (NSW). All orders are dispatched within 24 hours from our Fremantle Warehouse.

All items can be viewed at Elizabeth’s Bookshop Warehouse, 23 Queen Victoria Street, Fremantle WA.
Click & Collect (no postage cost!) is available at all branches.