The New Sylva: A Discourse of Forest and Orchard Trees for the Twenty-First Century

The New Sylva: A Discourse of Forest and Orchard Trees for the Twenty-First Century , History & Folklore , Bloomsbury Publishing

ISBN: 9781408835449

Bloomsbury Publishing

Gabriel Hemery, Sarah Simblet

In 1664, the horticulturist and diarist John Evelyn wrote Sylva, the first comprehensive study of British trees. It was also the world's earliest forestry book, and the first book ever published by the Royal Society. Evelyn's elegant prose has a lot to tell us today, but the world has changed dramatically since his day. Now authors Gabriel Hemery and Sarah Simblet, taking inspiration from the original work, have masterfully created a contemporary version – The New Sylva. The result describes all of the most important species of tree that populate our landscape.

Silvologist Gabriel Hemery explains what trees really mean to us culturally, environmentally and economically in the first part of the book. These chapters are followed by forty-four detailed tree portrait sections that describe the history and the features of trees such as oak, elm, beech, hornbeam, willow, fir, pine, juniper, plane, apple and pear.

The pages of The New Sylva are brought to life with the artwork from artist and co-author Sarah Simblet, who captures the delicacy, strength and beauty of the trees through the seasons in 200 exquisite drawings.

With an interplay of black and red type on creamy paper, The New Sylva recalls all the charm of traditional bookmaking.

Bloomsbury Publishing

Manufactured by: Bloomsbury Publishing