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The Flower of Empire: An Amazonian Water Lily, The Quest to Make it Bloom, and
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Approximately£5.97
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Item specifics
- Condition
- ISBN
- 9780195373899
- EAN
- 9780195373899
- Book Title
- Flower of Empire : an Amazonian Water Lily, the Quest to Make It Bloom, and the World It Created
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press, Incorporated
- Item Length
- 6.5 in
- Publication Year
- 2013
- Format
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- Illustrator
- Yes
- Item Height
- 1.1 in
- Genre
- Science, Gardening, History
- Topic
- Life Sciences / Botany, Flowers / General, Modern / 19th Century, Europe / Great Britain / General
- Item Weight
- 21.3 Oz
- Item Width
- 9.4 in
- Number of Pages
- 328 Pages
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Oxford University Press, Incorporated
ISBN-10
0195373898
ISBN-13
9780195373899
eBay Product ID (ePID)
143583371
Product Key Features
Book Title
Flower of Empire : an Amazonian Water Lily, the Quest to Make It Bloom, and the World It Created
Number of Pages
328 Pages
Language
English
Topic
Life Sciences / Botany, Flowers / General, Modern / 19th Century, Europe / Great Britain / General
Publication Year
2013
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Science, Gardening, History
Format
Hardcover
Dimensions
Item Height
1.1 in
Item Weight
21.3 Oz
Item Length
6.5 in
Item Width
9.4 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
2012-034518
Reviews
"According to Tatiana Holway in The Flower of Empire, the Amazon water lily created a whole new world. That may seem a bit of a stretch, but Holway makes a lively case for this botanical colossus. . . . But what's most fascinating about this tale is the way Holway twists and turns it through other botanical developments, from the invention of Wardian cases (which made transporting plants viable) to the manic obsession with flowers of 19th-century Britain, a nation in the midst of the Industrial Revolution." ---New York Times "The discovery of the large water lily Victoria amazonica fascinated the botantical and social world of Great Britian and beyond. Holway takes many divergent paths, introducing the personalities involved and the botanical, architectural, and cultural themes centered on this fantastic water lily. Recommended." --CHOICE "Written with great verve and eloquence, Tatiana Holway tells her story of botanical adventure as robustly as the botanist who undertook the South American discovery of the great water lily, Victoria regia, and the cultural obsession it inspired. As a piece of horticultural and social history of Victorian England, The Flower of Empire is splendid: by turns surprising, exciting, and illuminating." --John Lahr "Tatiana Holway's wonderful book about the Victoria regia is fascinating, impeccably written, and elegantly designed. Until I read it I had been most fascinated by the Chinese handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrata, but Holway's book has led me reconsider." --Simon Winchester "A fresh and often witty account in which the author quotes freely from correspondence and periodicals to create a lively portrait of Victorian England and of the widespread passion for flowers and gardening at that time." --Kirkus Reviews "Tatiana Holway has a fascinating story of Victorian England to tell about a giant Amazonian water lily, the attempts to get it to grow in England and how it became the inspiration for the Crystal Palace. She has brought to life the extraordinary characters involved, from the German scientific traveler who came across the lily on New Year's day 1837 in the interior of the then British Guiana to the botanical elite of Great Britain who tried to make it bloom." --Peter Rivière, Oxford University "Tatiana Holway has written a lively account of a fascinating series of events in Victorian England: the discovery and cultivation of an enormous tropical water lily that was named (after learned discussion) Victoria Regia, for the young and popular queen. The race to make the Amazonian flower bloom in England captured the public imagination, involved rivalries and disputes among leading figures, and had far-reaching consequences. With scholarly depth and humor, and in unfailingly readable prose, Holway shows how a botanical oddity could become an imperial, cultural, and political symbolic expression of the age." --Steven Marcus, George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities Emeritus, Columbia University "Teeming with intimate glimpses into the physically challenging world of international plant collecting, as well as the petty intricacies of royal politics.. Holway's chronicle of Victorian society and the age of scientific discovery is a vibrant, revelatory exposé." --Booklist, Tatiana Holway tells the story in all its complexities with verve and humour a handsome book at a very reasonable price., A fresh and often witty account in which the author quotes freely from correspondence and periodicals to create a lively portrait of Victorian England and of the widespread passion for flowers and gardening at that time., "According to Tatiana Holway in The Flower of Empire, the Amazon water lily created a whole new world. That may seem a bit of a stretch, but Holway makes a lively case for this botanical colossus. . . . But what's most fascinating about this tale is the way Holway twists and turns it through other botanical developments, from the invention of Wardian cases (which made transporting plants viable) to the manic obsession with flowers of 19th-century Britain, a nation in the midst of the Industrial Revolution." ---New York Times "The discovery of the large water lily Victoria amazonica fascinated the botantical and social world of Great Britian and beyond. Holway takes many divergent paths, introducing the personalities involved and the botanical, architectural, and cultural themes centered on this fantastic water lily. Recommended." --CHOICE "Written with great verve and eloquence, Tatiana Holway tells her story of botanical adventure as robustly as the botanist who undertook the South American discovery of the great water lily, Victoria regia, and the cultural obsession it inspired. As a piece of horticultural and social history of Victorian England, The Flower of Empire is splendid: by turns surprising, exciting, and illuminating." --John Lahr "Tatiana Holway's wonderful book about the Victoria regia is fascinating, impeccably written, and elegantly designed. Until I read it I had been most fascinated by the Chinese handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrata, but Holway's book has led me reconsider." --Simon Winchester "A fresh and often witty account in which the author quotes freely from correspondence and periodicals to create a lively portrait of Victorian England and of the widespread passion for flowers and gardening at that time." --Kirkus Reviews "Tatiana Holway has a fascinating story of Victorian England to tell about a giant Amazonian water lily, the attempts to get it to grow in England and how it became the inspiration for the Crystal Palace. She has brought to life the extraordinary characters involved, from the German scientific traveler who came across the lily on New Year's day 1837 in the interior of the then British Guiana to the botanical elite of Great Britain who tried to make it bloom." --Peter Rivire, Oxford University "Tatiana Holway has written a lively account of a fascinating series of events in Victorian England: the discovery and cultivation of an enormous tropical water lily that was named (after learned discussion) Victoria Regia, for the young and popular queen. The race to make the Amazonian flower bloom in England captured the public imagination, involved rivalries and disputes among leading figures, and had far-reaching consequences. With scholarly depth and humor, and in unfailingly readable prose, Holway shows how a botanical oddity could become an imperial, cultural, and political symbolic expression of the age." --Steven Marcus, George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities Emeritus, Columbia University "Teeming with intimate glimpses into the physically challenging world of international plant collecting, as well as the petty intricacies of royal politics.. Holway's chronicle of Victorian society and the age of scientific discovery is a vibrant, revelatory expos." --Booklist, "According to Tatiana Holway in The Flower of Empire, the Amazon water lily created a whole new world. That may seem a bit of a stretch, but Holway makes a lively case for this botanical colossus. . . . But what's most fascinating about this tale is the way Holway twists and turns it through other botanical developments, from the invention of Wardian cases (which made transporting plants viable) to the manic obsession with flowers of 19th-century Britain, a nation in the midst of the Industrial Revolution." ---New York Times"The discovery of the large water lily Victoria amazonica fascinated the botantical and social world of Great Britian and beyond. Holway takes many divergent paths, introducing the personalities involved and the botanical, architectural, and cultural themes centered on this fantastic water lily. Recommended." --CHOICE"Written with great verve and eloquence, Tatiana Holway tells her story of botanical adventure as robustly as the botanist who undertook the South American discovery of the great water lily, Victoria regia, and the cultural obsession it inspired. As a piece of horticultural and social history of Victorian England, The Flower of Empire is splendid: by turns surprising, exciting, and illuminating." --John Lahr"Tatiana Holway's wonderful book about the Victoria regia is fascinating, impeccably written, and elegantly designed. Until I read it I had been most fascinated by the Chinese handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrata, but Holway's book has led me reconsider." --Simon Winchester"A fresh and often witty account in which the author quotes freely from correspondence and periodicals to create a lively portrait of Victorian England and of the widespread passion for flowers and gardening at that time." --Kirkus Reviews "Tatiana Holway has a fascinating story of Victorian England to tell about a giant Amazonian water lily, the attempts to get it to grow in England and how it became the inspiration for the Crystal Palace. She has brought to life the extraordinary characters involved, from the German scientific traveler who came across the lily on New Year's day 1837 in the interior of the then British Guiana to the botanical elite of Great Britain who tried to make it bloom." --Peter Rivière, Oxford University"Tatiana Holway has written a lively account of a fascinating series of events in Victorian England: the discovery and cultivation of an enormous tropical water lily that was named (after learned discussion) Victoria Regia, for the young and popular queen. The race to make the Amazonian flower bloom in England captured the public imagination, involved rivalries and disputes among leading figures, and had far-reaching consequences. With scholarly depth and humor, and in unfailingly readable prose, Holway shows how a botanical oddity could become an imperial, cultural, and political symbolic expression of the age." --Steven Marcus, George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities Emeritus, Columbia University"Teeming with intimate glimpses into the physically challenging world of international plant collecting, as well as the petty intricacies of royal politics.. Holway's chronicle of Victorian society and the age of scientific discovery is a vibrant, revelatory exposé." --Booklist, [A] splendid story what's most fascinating about this tale is the way Holway twists and turns it through other botanical developments, Her rip-roaring, page-turning approach makes this book a hugely enjoyable read for anyone with an interest in 19th century history', "According to Tatiana Holway in The Flower of Empire, the Amazon water lily created a whole new world. That may seem a bit of a stretch, but Holway makes a lively case for this botanical colossus. . . . But what's most fascinating about this tale is the way Holway twists and turns it through other botanical developments, from the invention of Wardian cases (which made transporting plants viable) to the manic obsession with flowers of 19th-century Britain, a nation in the midst of the Industrial Revolution." ---New York Times "Written with great verve and eloquence, Tatiana Holway tells her story of botanical adventure as robustly as the botanist who undertook the South American discovery of the great water lily, Victoria regia, and the cultural obsession it inspired. As a piece of horticultural and social history of Victorian England, The Flower of Empire is splendid: by turns surprising, exciting, and illuminating." --John Lahr "Tatiana Holway's wonderful book about the Victoria regia is fascinating, impeccably written, and elegantly designed. Until I read it I had been most fascinated by the Chinese handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrata, but Holway's book has led me reconsider." --Simon Winchester "A fresh and often witty account in which the author quotes freely from correspondence and periodicals to create a lively portrait of Victorian England and of the widespread passion for flowers and gardening at that time." --Kirkus Reviews "Tatiana Holway has a fascinating story of Victorian England to tell about a giant Amazonian water lily, the attempts to get it to grow in England and how it became the inspiration for the Crystal Palace. She has brought to life the extraordinary characters involved, from the German scientific traveler who came across the lily on New Year's day 1837 in the interior of the then British Guiana to the botanical elite of Great Britain who tried to make it bloom." --Peter Rivière, Oxford University "Tatiana Holway has written a lively account of a fascinating series of events in Victorian England: the discovery and cultivation of an enormous tropical water lily that was named (after learned discussion) Victoria Regia, for the young and popular queen. The race to make the Amazonian flower bloom in England captured the public imagination, involved rivalries and disputes among leading figures, and had far-reaching consequences. With scholarly depth and humor, and in unfailingly readable prose, Holway shows how a botanical oddity could become an imperial, cultural, and political symbolic expression of the age." --Steven Marcus, George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities Emeritus, Columbia University "Teeming with intimate glimpses into the physically challenging world of international plant collecting, as well as the petty intricacies of royal politics.. Holway's chronicle of Victorian society and the age of scientific discovery is a vibrant, revelatory exposé." --Booklist, Tatiana Holway's wonderful book about the Victoria regia is fascinating, impeccably written, and elegantly designed. Until I read it I had been most fascinated by the Chinese handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrate, but Holway's book has led me reconsider., Her rip-roaring, page-turning approach makes this book a hugely enjoyable read for anyone with an interest in 19th century history, "A fresh and often witty account in which the author quotes freely from correspondence and periodicals to create a lively portrait of Victorian England and of the widespread passion for flowers and gardening at that time." Kirkus Reviews "Tatiana Holway has a fascinating story of Victorian England to tell about a giant Amazonian water lily, the attempts to get it to grow in England and how it became the inspiration for the Crystal Palace. She has brought to life the extraordinary characters involved, from the German scientific traveler who came across the lily on New Year's day 1837 in the interior of the then British Guiana to the botanical elite of Great Britain who tried to make it bloom." --Peter Rivière, Oxford University "Tatiana Holway has written a lively account of a fascinating series of events in Victorian England: the discovery and cultivation of an enormous tropical water lily that was named (after learned discussion) Victoria Regia, for the young and popular queen. The race to make the Amazonian flower bloom in England captured the public imagination, involved rivalries and disputes among leading figures, and had far-reaching consequences. With scholarly depth and humor, and in unfailingly readable prose, Holway shows how a botanical oddity could become an imperial, cultural, and political symbolic expression of the age." --Steven Marcus, George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities Emeritus, Columbia University, "According to Tatiana Holway in The Flower of Empire, the Amazon water lily created a whole new world. That may seem a bit of a stretch, but Holway makes a lively case for this botanical colossus. . . . But what's most fascinating about this tale is the way Holway twists and turns it through other botanical developments, from the invention of Wardian cases (which made transporting plants viable) to the manic obsession with flowers of 19th-centuryBritain, a nation in the midst of the Industrial Revolution." ---New York Times"The discovery of the large water lily Victoria amazonica fascinated the botantical and social world of Great Britian and beyond. Holway takes many divergent paths, introducing the personalities involved and the botanical, architectural, and cultural themes centered on this fantastic water lily. Recommended." --CHOICE"Written with great verve and eloquence, Tatiana Holway tells her story of botanical adventure as robustly as the botanist who undertook the South American discovery of the great water lily, Victoria regia, and the cultural obsession it inspired. As a piece of horticultural and social history of Victorian England, The Flower of Empire is splendid: by turns surprising, exciting, and illuminating." --John Lahr"Tatiana Holway's wonderful book about the Victoria regia is fascinating, impeccably written, and elegantly designed. Until I read it I had been most fascinated by the Chinese handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrata, but Holway's book has led me reconsider." --Simon Winchester"A fresh and often witty account in which the author quotes freely from correspondence and periodicals to create a lively portrait of Victorian England and of the widespread passion for flowers and gardening at that time." --Kirkus Reviews"Tatiana Holway has a fascinating story of Victorian England to tell about a giant Amazonian water lily, the attempts to get it to grow in England and how it became the inspiration for the Crystal Palace. She has brought to life the extraordinary characters involved, from the German scientific traveler who came across the lily on New Year's day 1837 in the interior of the then British Guiana to the botanical elite of Great Britain who tried to make it bloom." --Peter Rivière, Oxford University"Tatiana Holway has written a lively account of a fascinating series of events in Victorian England: the discovery and cultivation of an enormous tropical water lily that was named (after learned discussion) Victoria Regia, for the young and popular queen. The race to make the Amazonian flower bloom in England captured the public imagination, involved rivalries and disputes among leading figures, and had far-reaching consequences. With scholarly depth andhumor, and in unfailingly readable prose, Holway shows how a botanical oddity could become an imperial, cultural, and political symbolic expression of the age." --Steven Marcus, George Delacorte Professorin the Humanities Emeritus, Columbia University"Teeming with intimate glimpses into the physically challenging world of international plant collecting, as well as the petty intricacies of royal politics.. Holway's chronicle of Victorian society and the age of scientific discovery is a vibrant, revelatory exposé." --Booklist, "According to Tatiana Holway in The Flower of Empire, the Amazon water lily created a whole new world. That may seem a bit of a stretch, but Holway makes a lively case for this botanical colossus. . . . But what's most fascinating about this tale is the way Holway twists and turns it through other botanical developments, from the invention of Wardian cases (which made transporting plants viable) to the manic obsession with flowers of 19th-century Britain, a nation in the midst of the Industrial Revolution." ---New York Times "Written with great verve and eloquence, Tatiana Holway tells her story of botanical adventure as robustly as the botanist who undertook the South American discovery of the great water lily, Victoria regia, and the cultural obsession it inspired. As a piece of horticultural and social history of Victorian England, The Flower of Empire is splendid: by turns surprising, exciting, and illuminating." --John Lahr "Tatiana Holway's wonderful book about the Victoria regia is fascinating, impeccably written, and elegantly designed. Until I read it I had been most fascinated by the Chinese handkerchief tree, Davidia involucrata, but Holway's book has led me reconsider." --Simon Winchester "A fresh and often witty account in which the author quotes freely from correspondence and periodicals to create a lively portrait of Victorian England and of the widespread passion for flowers and gardening at that time." --Kirkus Reviews "Tatiana Holway has a fascinating story of Victorian England to tell about a giant Amazonian water lily, the attempts to get it to grow in England and how it became the inspiration for the Crystal Palace. She has brought to life the extraordinary characters involved, from the German scientific traveler who came across the lily on New Year's day 1837 in the interior of the then British Guiana to the botanical elite of Great Britain who tried to make it bloom." --Peter Rivire, Oxford University "Tatiana Holway has written a lively account of a fascinating series of events in Victorian England: the discovery and cultivation of an enormous tropical water lily that was named (after learned discussion) Victoria Regia, for the young and popular queen. The race to make the Amazonian flower bloom in England captured the public imagination, involved rivalries and disputes among leading figures, and had far-reaching consequences. With scholarly depth and humor, and in unfailingly readable prose, Holway shows how a botanical oddity could become an imperial, cultural, and political symbolic expression of the age." --Steven Marcus, George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities Emeritus, Columbia University "Teeming with intimate glimpses into the physically challenging world of international plant collecting, as well as the petty intricacies of royal politics.. Holway's chronicle of Victorian society and the age of scientific discovery is a vibrant, revelatory expos." --Booklist, "A fresh and often witty account in which the author quotes freely from correspondence and periodicals to create a lively portrait of Victorian England and of the widespread passion for flowers and gardening at that time." Kirkus Reviews
Dewey Edition
23
TitleLeading
The
Dewey Decimal
727/.6580942
Table Of Content
Prologue: Victoria's Floras 1. Terra Incognita 2. Perils and Wonders 3. A Floral Sensation 4. An International Tempest 5. Return to the Wild 6. Cultivating Kew Gardens 7. His Grace and His Gardener 8. The Flowering of Chatsworth 9. Golden Square 10. Evergreens 11. Salvaging Kew Gardens 12. Trading Favors 13. Trials and Errors 14. The Great Stove 15. Reviving Kew Gardens 16. Return to El Dorado 17. Paxton, Inc. 18. First Bloom 19. Nature's Engineer 20. Empire under Glass Epilogue: Victoria Regia Redux Notes Bibliography
Synopsis
The fascinating story of the massive Amazonian water lily, the Victoria regia, from its discovery in the wilds of British Guiana in 1837 to its metamorphosis into a symbol of Victorian culture and of the British Empire itself., In 1837, a German naturalist named Robert Schomburgk was charting the South American terrirtory of Guiana on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society. Guiana, only recently joined to the British Empire, was almost uncharted, and knowledge of it stemmed primarily from Sir Walter Raleigh's account of his search for the legendary city El Dorado. Moving upriver, Schomburgk found not gold, but to his astonishment, a "vegetal wonder" -- a water lily so colossal that it physically impeded the expedition's progress. The flowers were dazzlingly white; its leaves were five or six feet across. He took careful notes and packed up one of the plants as best he could, then sent them back to England, where news of the discovery spread and fed a horticultural mania. A race was on to bring a live specimen to England, and to bring it to flower. In honor of its being discovered during the year of the new queen's accession to the throne, the lily was named the Victoria regia. In The Flower of Empire, Tatiana Holway tells the story of this magnificent flower, from its discovery to the manner in which its influence touched upon nearly every aspect of Victorian life, art, and culture. Holway recounts how the lily's appearance was reproduced everywhere, giving rise to new experiments in hothouse architecture and eventually serving as a basis for the design of the Crystal Palace, the most impressive demonstration and symbol of the empire's unrivaled industrial might and natural bounty. The Flower of Empire is a revealing and enduring work of cultural history., In 1837, while charting the Amazonian country of Guiana for Great Britain, German naturalist Robert Schomburgk discovered an astounding "vegetable wonder"--a huge water lily whose leaves were five or six feet across and whose flowers were dazzlingly white. In England, a horticultural nation with a mania for gardens and flowers, news of the discovery sparked a race to bring a live specimen back, and to bring it to bloom. In this extraordinary plant, named Victoria regia for the newly crowned queen, the flower-obsessed British had found their beau ideal. In The Flower of Empire, Tatiana Holway tells the story of this magnificent lily, revealing how it touched nearly every aspect of Victorian life, art, and culture. Holway's colorful narrative captures the sensation stirred by Victoria regia in England, particularly the intense race among prominent Britons to be the first to coax the flower to bloom. We meet the great botanists of the age, from the legendary Sir Joseph Banks, to Sir William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, to the extravagant flower collector the Duke of Devonshire. Perhaps most important was the Duke's remarkable gardener, Joseph Paxton, who rose from garden boy to knight, and whose design of a series of ever-more astonishing glass-houses--one, the Big Stove, had a footprint the size of Grand Central Station--culminated in his design of the architectural wonder of the age, the Crystal Palace. Fittingly, Paxton based his design on a glass-house he had recently built to house Victoria regia. Indeed, the natural ribbing of the lily's leaf inspired the pattern of girders supporting the massive iron-and-glass building. From alligator-laden jungle ponds to the heights of Victorian society, The Flower of Empire unfolds the marvelous odyssey of this wonder of nature in a revealing work of cultural history.
LC Classification Number
QK495.N97H65 2013
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