Plant Cuttings

Kew’s Pocketbooks*. Kew Publishing.

Who hates to be late to the party (Jo Asker)? Probably, most of those who’ve been invited [if you’ve not received an invitation, then you probably won’t be turning up – late or not]. I feel a little like that in respect of Kew’s Pocketbook series of botanical books. I only found out about these titles shortly before penning this piece. And it looks like this collection has been around since September 2020 with its titles Cacti, and Palms**. Anyway, having now discovered this collection, I managed to secure myself an invitation to review it. Recognising that this is a series of books, and trying to make up for lost time, rather than just appraise a single title in this triplet of posts, I’ll cover eight of them – the series generally in this post, and four titles in each of the following two posts .

Thirteen titles were showing on the NHBS site as at 4^th June 2024. But, that didn’t include Houseplants (published in February 2024) or Poisonous plants (published in May 2024). There are therefore presumably at least 15 Kew Pocketbook titles at the time of writing this review [all of which are listed here]***. For good measure, it’s worth stating that all but one of the titles in the series deal principally with angiosperms (and the occasional gymnosperm, e.g. juniper in Herbs and spices, and Christmas tree in Festive flora, and fern (e.g. Nephrolepis exaltata and Phlebodium aureum in Houseplants)). The ‘odd one out’ is Fungi (which I’ve not evaluated) dealing with mushrooms and toadstools.

What are Kew Pocketbooks?

Kew Pocketbooks are advertised as follows (quote from the NHBS site): “stunning new series of pocketbooks from Kew offer a snapshot into the diverse and beautiful world of plants. Each book lavishly showcases choice examples from individual plant groups or collections … each book presents 40 botanical paintings**** from the collection [the Library, Art and Archives at Kew, which is one of the most extensive botanical libraries in the world, with the oldest item dating back to the 1370s], illustrating the variety within each plant group, as well as the diversity of the collection and artistic styles. An introductory chapter by a Kew expert provides an overview of cacti [a strange reference to this book, which looks like poor ‘copying-and-pasting’ from a press release] – however, the important point is reference to a Kew expert], and extended captions accompany each painting”.

Titles in the series celebrate plant families (e.g. Cacti, Palms, Orchids), plants from a geographical area (e.g. Mexican plants, Japanese plants), plants that provide humans with food (Fruit) and flavourings for food and drink (Herbs and spices), plants associated with particular human activities (e.g. Festive flora, Houseplants), a particular grouping of plants (e.g. Trees, Poisonous plants, Wildflowers), a dietary specialism (Carnivorous plants), “artwork from a rare and valuable compendium of plants” (Honzō Zufu); and a non-plant kingdom, Fungi. In other words, Kew Pocketbooks are a rather diverse collection of botania.

What do you get – and don’t get?

The previous paragraph explains what the books are, and gives some idea of what to expect in each volume. By reference to the 8 titles I evaluated [See Parts 2 and 3], I can add the following information – and amend some of what’s been declared in the books’ publicity material above.

Authorship is slightly unusual; each title has an Introduction to the book’s topic by a named individual. And it is only that individual who tends to be named in the book’s publicity blurb on the Kew site. But, stated within the books, for all of the titles I looked at, Lydia White was named as a curator. I couldn’t find any reference to what curation involves for these books, but – if it relates to choice of images to be presented – it’s clearly an important part of making the book what it is, and must be quite a task given the great amount of material that Kew holds and from which images were selected. The Introduction sections to each book introduce its subject, and vary in length, from approx. 2.33 pages for Cacti to 5 pages for Festive flora. Space is therefore rather limited to say that much about the topic. One might therefore hope that text accompanying each plant image will provide more background, context, and insight. However, that’s not always the case.

Whilst in critical book-appraising mode, it also needs to be stated that not every Kew Pocketbook has an introductory chapter by a Kew expert, i.e. somebody – at the time of writing the book – who was on the staff at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Carnivorous plants’ introduction is by Chris Thorogood. Although he is an expert on the biology of carnivorous plants [see here, here, here, and here] – and therefore entirely appropriate that he should pen the introduction for that collection – he is not an expert from Kew. He is “Deputy Director and Head of Science of University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum”. This is not a criticism of the contributors and their contribution to the series, but a comment on the way the Kew pocketbook collection is promoted. [Trusting that these appraisals are read and appropriately acted upon, you may find that the statement about Kew expert authorship of the books at the link I’ve provided has been changed…]

Each of the 40 entries in a book occupies 2 pages – a full-page colour (usually, rarely just black-and-white, e.g. Ethiopian pepper in Herbs and spices, and betel palm and sago palm in Palms, and saguaro in Cacti) illustration (approx. 14 x 18.5 cm), and a page containing text [NB, that is not a page of text]. For all images, the text is consistently the scientific name of the plant (although without the taxonomic Authority), its English common name(s) [but, presumably, only where known, e.g., several of the plants in Cacti only have scientific names], and a note on the source of the illustration. Additional accompanying text is supplied in some cases, and may include notes on the plant’s care and cultivation (e.g. Houseplants), or the ethnobotanical uses of the plant (e.g. Herbs and spices). Where present these annotations usefully add to the fairly minimal amount of text provided in the Introduction. Disappointingly, in three cases – Carnivorous plants, Cacti, and Palms – there was no additional text beyond the plant names and source. It is therefore demonstrably not always the case that “extended captions accompany each painting”. In all titles, even where additional image-associated information was provided, the text occupied barely a fifth of a page.

Even though the series is designed to showcase images from the Kew collections [which it does], Carnivorous plants includes several of the ‘author’s’ – Chris Thorogood – own paintings. Whilst there’s nothing wrong in that – Thorogood is a very accomplished artist who has produced many botanical illustrations (John Platt), and the images were entirely appropriate to the book’s topic – it does mean that each book doesn’t necessarily “present 40 botanical paintings from the [Kew] collection” [unless Thorogood’s paintings are now in the Kew collection..?]. There don’t appear to be any indications of scale to accompany the plant images in any of the titles in this series. Whilst they may not have been associated with the original illustrations, inclusion of some idea of the sizes of the plants would be of value – especially where such large plants as palms or individual fruits are concerned.

Neither the introductory text nor the text that may accompany the images has any sources stated for any statements of fact that may have been made. Instead, each volume has a list of Further Reading (which, I presume, may – or may not – include source(s) for some of the facts stated) – and which may also include online sources. Notwithstanding the fact that the introductory text and any accompanying text is written by an expert, should we just expect the reader to accept as factual and correct unsourced statements? Should we be encouraging such uncritical acceptance of the word of an authority figure? In this day and age, with a rightfully sceptical audience, probably not.

All books reviewed had an index [I did not check to see if there were always entries for the 40 illustrated plants, but entries appear to be primarily to the plants – both scientific names and common names, rather than to topics that may have been mentioned in the Introduction or image annotations], but no volume had a list of the book’s contents. At a minimum one might have expected plant name and page number to be shown at the start of the book to help a would-be reader navigate the collection of images. Included, for good measure, but importantly all in one place, is a list of the sources for each of the book’s images.

Comparison with other collections

When faced with a book series it’s almost inevitable that it will be compared to other series [hence my mention of similar titles by another publisher for the Kew volumes I evaluated in the following two posts]. The only other collection of botanical titles with which I have some familiarity is Reaktion Books’ Botanical series. I’ve appraised several titles in that collection (e.g. here, here, and here), and am a big fan of what that publisher sets out to achieve in that series of titles. How do Kew Pocketbooks compare? Fortunately, the two series attempt to do quite different things – Reaktion Books is more about plants-and-people relationships [“integrating horticultural and botanical writing with a broader account of the cultural and social impact of trees, plants and flowers”], Kew’s are more about showcasing the plant illustrations in its extensive archives [“Each book lavishly showcases choice examples from individual plant groups or collections“] – so any meaningful comparison is not possible. Arguably, where the same plant topics are covered by Reaktion Books and Kew Publishing (e.g. Cacti, Carnivorous plants, House plants), copies from both publishers will complement each other – to some extent.

To be continued…

The next two posts [here], and here] will look in more detail at eight of the titles in the Kew Pocketbooks series.

* I’ve been unable to find a link to general information about this book series on the Kew site, hence my use of this link to the NHBS site.

** The Kew site doesn’t show the month of publication for these titles, hence use – again – of the NHBS site…

*** Somewhat strangely, p. 97 of Houseplants only lists 12 ‘other titles in the Kew Pocketbook series’. Herbs and spices, published in May 2022 is not mentioned. [Neither is Poisonous plants. But, since its May 2024 publication date post-dates publication of Houseplants, that is not surprising.] Curiously, the University of Chicago Press site lists all titles in the series, except for Trees…

**** A word of expectations is important here. When I read ‘40 botanical paintings’ I – not unnaturally? – assumed that to mean illustrations of 40 different species. I suspect that for most of Kew’s Pocketbook volumes that may well be the case. However, it is decidedly not the case in Carnivorous plants. In that tome we have Sarracenia purpurea illustrated on pages 26, 42, and 50. Admittedly, on p. 42 it is shown alongside S. flava and Capparis pyrifolia (a non-carnivorous climber the annotation usefully adds). But nonetheless, that makes 3 separate depictions of a single species. So, that means there are 40 – 2 + 1 = 39 different carnivorous plant species in that book? No. Dionaea muscipula is also multiply-depicted – on pages 33, 64 (with Sarracenia flava), 66, and 78. Complicating matters further, S. flava is illustrated on at least 3 occasions, once with S. purpurea, once with D. muscipula, and once on its own. I haven’t checked for any other ‘duplicates’. But that volume gives you fewer than 40 separate species, although it adheres to the – I now realise – very carefully worded phrase ’40 botanical illustrations’. Whilst it’s always nice to see pictures of plants, it would have been nicer to have more different plants featured. A case of caveat emptor (Julia Kagan), or just advice to readers to appropriately adjust their expectations?