This major work, first published in 1950, is still considered the classic work on the subject. Now substantially revised and enlarged, the book provides a comprehensive, critical and well illustrated survey of the portrayal of plants through more than three thousand years. Of the first edition, the poet and gardening writer, Vita Sackville-West, after referring in The Observer to the wealth of illustration and the fascination of the text, then "Let no one think this is a book only for the specialist. It is essential for the specialist, certainly, but it is also for all flower-lovers and all those who enjoy the by-ways of biography and the added attraction of good writing. "Wilfrid Blunt, an artist himself, brought to it a craftsman's appreciation and knowledge gained from experience, the extensive literature, and visits to many galleries on the Continent. William T. Stearn gave him much help on botanical, biographical and bibliographical matters and contributed part of the text. Professor Stearn has revised and enlarged this classic work and greatly extended the chapter on the twentieth century. The new edition includes 126 colour plates (more than twice as many as the original edition) and 140 black and white illustrations, thus making available to the general public numerous examples of the work of the great botanical illustrators past and present.