Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

I was excited to see that our group would visit Kew Gardens, a spot that I've heard has the most beautiful flowers. This turned out to be entirely accurate, but I was especially happy to learn that their treasures extend to their library and archive collections, as well. 

First up, we were given an introduction to Beatrix Potter and her life pre-Peter Rabbit by local author Andrew Wiltshire. She was quite the lady! Not much was known about her personally until recently when her journal was cracked. By this, I mean that she wrote it in a code of her own device which wasn't solved until years after her death. Andrew told us about Potter's topical observations and great intelligence which led to her scientific discovery of how fairy ring mushrooms spread. Her connection to Kew is a rather disappointing one. She submitted her fairy ring findings to Kew, which they promptly ignored because she was a woman. Science's loss. 

Fiona Ainsworth, the Royal Botanic Gardens' Collection Manager, prepared items from the library and archive for us to view as she gave a history of the Gardens and the collections. The Royal Gardens used to be two gardens, one King George II's and the other his son's, the Prince of Wales. The two properties united under King George III and were given to the public under Queen Victoria. The library itself is 165 years old and has 300,000 printed volumes, 5,000 journal titles, and 20,000 maps that detail 2000 years of botany knowledge. 

The great thing about botany books, however old they are, is their gorgeous and colourful illustrations. We were treated to some of the loveliest material I have seen so far. 

One of the biggest projects the library is undertaking today is to digitize and cross-reference their collection with the archive, herbarium, and the other collections. As you'll hear with any library, there is not enough funding to support all of their ventures. As a result, the archive is largely uncategorized. 

J.K. Rowling drew influence from many real-life sources, including this depiction of a mandrake!

Hooker's field notes and a wonderful cartoon about an impish dog drawn by his sister

The autobiography of the brazen and adventurous Marianne North

The Royal Botanic Gardens Library's greatest treasure is a collection of letters from Charles Darwin to Joseph Hooker, the Garden's second director. Writing in a very difficult to read crossing technique, Darwin shared his findings and conclusions with Hooker, as well as dried plant specimens from his travels. Amazing! Illegible, but amazing!

And... some more photos of those gorgeous gardens.