#john lindley

Paxton’s Flower Garden was issued in monthly parts from 1882-1884, which became three volumes. It was written by two eminent British botanists. John Lindley (1799-1865) is considered by many as the “father of orchidology.” In his early years he served as an assistant to Sir Joseph Banks in his library and herbarium, and later was appointed assistant secretary to the Royal Horticultural Society. He was also elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London and in 1829 he was appointed professor of botany in the newly founded University of London. Sir Joseph Paxton (1803-1865) was a British gardener, designer, writer, Member of Parliament, and creator of one of most famous buildings of Victoria’s reign, The Crystal Palace, a cast-iron and glass structure originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851.

The preface states the original purpose of Paxton’s Flower Garden was “To supply, in monthly parts, as full an account of all the new and remarkable plants introduced into cultivation as is necessary to the horticulturist; the history of such plants being sought in botanical works published on the continent; to which English cultivators have little access, as well as in those of our own country, and in the gardens or herbaria from which they are derived.”

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