Men Around Linnaeus
Biography Young Adult Non-Fiction Art History Natural History Botanical Art Collectible Antiquarian Garden History Swedish Enlightenment
“Men Around Linnaeus” is the out-of-print, lavishly illustrated hardcover that plant-lovers, art historians and collectors hunt for when they want more than a textbook on the father of modern botany. Instead of re-treading Carl Linnaeus’ own story, author Annika Silander Hokerberg spotlights the little-known circle of 18th-century artists, explorers, gardeners and engravers who turned his revolutionary classification system into gorgeous folios and living gardens. The result is a 104-page visual treasure trove—part art history, part natural-science adventure—that finally gives these unsung collaborators their due.
Every spread pairs crisp period portraiture with the botanical paintings, field sketches and garden plans they produced, so readers can see exactly how Georg Dionysius Ehret’s brushwork, for example, immortalised the Linnaean system in colour. Printed on heavy, coated stock in 2000 but already vintage, the book’s large format (picture-book size) makes the plates pop like exhibition posters, while the concise, young-adult-friendly text keeps the narrative fast-paced and accessible to both teens and adults. If you have ever struggled to tell a Geranium robertianum from a G. pratense, the labelled close-ups and comparative studies printed here are a master-class in historical botanical illustration.
Because the title was never reprinted, clean first-edition copies now surface almost exclusively on the secondary market. This particular copy shows only light creasing and a faint watermark on the first blank page—common shelfwear for a 24-year-old art book—while the colour plates, binding and endpapers remain bright, tight and free of any handwriting or dog-ears. For collectors of Linnaeusiana, botanical art, or Swedish Enlightenment culture, “Men Around Linnaeus” offers both the scholarly substance and the shelf appeal that turn a casual interest into a passion.
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