BEAUTIFUL FLORA IN 10 NEW BEAUTIFUL BOOKS NOW

We’ve picked a magnificent bouquet of 10 new books that feature the most beautiful flowers and botanicals to inspire you and keep you fascinated as you ponder the glory of beautiful flora. Check them out below.

1. RADIANCE: THE PAINTINGS OF DYANA HESSON

“Radiance: The Paintings of Dyana Hesson,” features over 170 of the artist's stunning botanical and landscape paintings, as well as her stories and poems .

Dyana Hesson Press

2. PLANT: EXPLORING THE BOTANICAL WORLD

“Plant: Exploring the Botanical World” is a beautiful gift for gardeners and art-lovers, featuring 300 of the most beautiful botanical images ever.

Page after page of magnificent photographs, micrograph scans, watercolors, drawings, and prints, together earn this book a prime place on your coffee table.

These images, curated by an international panel of experts, comprise a gorgeous compilation of iconic botanical works by celebrated artists, photographers, scientists, and botanical illustrators, some of which are rare and previously unpublished.

Phaidon Press

3. EXPLORERS’ BOTANICAL NOTEBOOK: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THEOPHRASTUS, MARCO POLO, LINNAEUS, FLINDERS, DARWIN, SPEKE AND HOOKER

“Explorers' Botanical Notebook: In the Footsteps of Theophrastus, Marco Polo, Linnaeus, Flinders, Darwin, Speke and Hooker,” by Florence Thinard, traces the journeys of more than 80 pioneering botanists, some famous, some obscure.

Each made important discoveries. Each collected and preserved unique and valuable plants. Many established species and cultivated them in their own native landscapes.

Each spread in the book outlines a naturalist’s journey, including a map of his route, as well as info and images about the plant he collected, complete with notes and sketches of seeds and pollen.

With 80 maps, 150 photographs, drawings and engravings, this book can keep you fascinated for a very long time.

Firefly Books

4. BOTANICAL ART FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY

“Botanical Art from the Golden Age of Scientific Discovery,” by Anna Laurent, presents a fascinating collection of 18th & 19th century botanical wall charts that were used for teaching purposes. Sound boring? Just take a look. They are stunning examples of botanical art at its finest.

Each wall chart includes informative captions, citing the species featured, the scientists and botanical illustrators who created it. Beautiful diagrammatic images of lilies, tulips, gourds, aquatic plants, legumes, poisonous plants, and carnivorous plants, offer larger-than-life detail.

Naturalists, gardeners, and artists alike would love this book. Put it on your list.

University Of Chicago Press

5. THE PLANT KINGDOMS OF CHARLES JONES

“The Plant Kingdoms of Charles Jones,” by Sean Sexton  & Robert Flynn Johnson, offers a stunning collection of portraits of vegetables, fruits, and flowers by Charles Jones, a 20th century visionary photographer who specialized in botany.

Jones’ produced breathtaking gelatin silver prints of photos shot as close-ups, with long exposure and spare composition.

Renowned writer and restaurateur Alice Waters wrote the preface.

The book includes 117 truly beautiful illustrations in both full color and black-and-white.

Thames & Hudson

6. BILLY SHOWELL’S BOTANICAL PAINTING IN WATERCOLOUR

“Billy Showell's Botanical Painting in Watercolour” presents a collection of the artist’s contemporary take on the traditional art of botanical painting, along with information, instruction, tips and techniques, in case you want to try your own hand at it.

Search Press

7. A GARDEN EDEN: MASTERPIECES OF BOTANICAL ILLUSTRATION

“A Garden Eden: Masterpieces of Botanical Illustration,” by H. Walter Lack, celebrates botanical tradition and talents, with a selection of outstanding works from the National Library of Vienna, including many new images.

From Byzantine manuscripts right through to 20th-century masterpieces, see how floral beauty as seen through the eyes of the ages, translated a range of flowers, from peonies, to callas, to chrysanthemums, with both exceptional aesthetics and laser-sharp accuracy.

Taschen

8. NUPHAR LUTEA: BOTANICAL IMAGES FOR THE DIGITAL DOCUMENTATION OF A TAXON.

“Nuphar Lutea: Botanical Images for the Digital Documentation of a Taxon,” by Niki Simpson.

Offers a radical portfolio of digitally created, contemporary botanical images of Nuphar lutea, the yellow water-lily. Fascinating as it is beautiful, this is a whole new spin on beautiful flora.

Niki Simpson

9. THE BOTANICAL TREASURY: CELEBRATING 40 OF THE WORLD’S MOST FASCINATING PLANTS THROUGH HISTORICAL ART AND MANUSCRIPTS.

“The Botanical Treasury : Celebrating 40 of the World's Most Fascinating Plants Through Historical Art and Manuscripts” by Christopher Mills, brings together centuries of botanical discoveries and explorations.

This encyclopedic volume includes beautiful full-color images of our most important and interesting plants, as well as copies of rarely seen letters, maps, and journals from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

With 40 frameable prints, this book makes an extraordinary gift for anyone who love flowers and gardens.

University Of Chicago Press

10. PAINTING THE MODERN GARDEN: MONET TO MATISSE

“Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse,” by Monty Don, Ann Dumas, Heather Lemonedes, James Priest, & William Robinson, surveys the great impressionists and their ideas about the beauty of gardens. The symbiotic relationship between artists and gardens that developed during the latter part of the 19th and first part of the 20th centuries.

Monet was a great horticulturalist, who cultivated extensive gardens wherever he lived. His most famous was the masterpiece garden at Giverny, where he painted his renowned water-lilies series.

“I perhaps owe it to flowers that I have become a painter.”—Claude Monet

The book also includes exquisite garden paintings by Renoir, Bonnard, Sargent, Klee, Kandinsky, and Matisse, among others.

Royal Academy Books

Read more about Beautiful Flora this week.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact Daily Fix posts.

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1. Image: by Dyana Hesson. Courtesy of Dyana Hesson Press. “Radiance: The Paintings of Dyana Hesson.”
2. Image: by Dyana Hesson. Courtesy of Dyana Hesson Press. “Radiance: The Paintings of Dyana Hesson.”
3. Image: Courtesy of Phaidon Press. “Plant: Exploring the Botanical World,” by Phaidon Editors.
4. Image: Courtesy of Firefly Books. “Explorers' Botanical Notebook: In the Footsteps of Theophrastus, Marco Polo, Linnaeus, Flinders, Darwin, Speke and Hooker, “ by Florence Thinard, Yannick Fourie.
5. Image: Courtesy of University Of Chicago Press. “Botanical Art from the Golden Age of Scientific Discovery,” by Anna Laurent.
6. Image: Courtesy of Thames & Hudson. “The Plant Kingdoms of Charles Jones,” by Sean Sexton, Robert Flynn Johnson, Alice Waters (Preface).
7. Image: Courtesy of Search Press. “Billy Showell's Botanical Painting in Watercolour,” by Billy Showell.
8. Image: Courtesy of Taschen. “A Garden Eden: Masterpieces of Botanical Illustration,” by H. Walter Lack.
9. Image: Courtesy of Niki Simpson. “Nuphar Lutea: Botanical Images for the Digital Documentation of a Taxon,” by Niki Simpson.
10. Image: Courtesy of University Of Chicago Press. “The Botanical Treasury: Celebrating 40 of the World’s Most Fascinating Plants through Historical Art and Manuscripts,” by Christopher Mills.
11. Image: Courtesy of Royal Academy Books. “Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse,” by Monty Don, Ann Dumas, Heather Lemonedes, James Priest, & William Robins.
12. Image: Courtesy of Search Press. “Billy Showell's Botanical Painting in Watercolour,” by Billy Showell.
13. Image: by Dyana Hesson. Courtesy of Dyana Hesson Press. “Radiance: The Paintings of Dyana Hesson.”
14. Image: by BN App - Download now!
15. Image: Courtesy of Search Press. “Billy Showell's Botanical Painting in Watercolour,” by Billy Showell.