A Cultural History of Plants in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (The Cultural Histories Series)

A Cultural History of Plants in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries covers the period from 1650 to 1800, a time of global exploration and the discovery of new species of plants and their potential uses. Trade routes were established which brought Europeans into direct contact with the plants and people of Asia, Oceania, Africa and the Americas. Foreign and exotic plants become objects of cultivation, collection, and display, whilst the applications of plants became central not only to naturalists, landowners, and gardeners but also to philosophers, artists, merchants, scientists, and rulers. As the Enlightenment took hold, the natural world became something to be grasped through reasoned understanding. The six-volume set of the Cultural History of Plants presents the first comprehensive history of the uses and meanings of plants from prehistory to today. The themes covered in each volume are plants as staple foods; plants as luxury foods; trade and exploration; plant technology and science; plants and medicine; plants in culture; plants as natural ornaments; the representation of plants. Jennifer Milam is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Art History, University of Newcastle, Australia. A Cultural History of Plants in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries is the fourth volume in the six-volume set, A Cultural History of Plants , also available online as part of Bloomsbury Cultural History, a fully-searchable digital library (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com). General Editors: Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware, USA, and David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK. A Cultural History of Plants presents a global exploration of how plants have shaped human culture. Covering the last 12,000 years, it is the definitive history of how we have cultivated, traded, classified, and altered plants and how, in turn, plants have influenced our ideas of luxury and wealth, health and well-being, art and architecture. Chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six. The themes (and chapter titles) Plants as Staple Foods; Plants as Luxury Foods; Trade and Exploration; Plant Technology and Science; Plants and Medicine; Plants in Culture; Plants as Natural Ornaments; The Representation of Plants. The six volumes 1 Antiquity (10,000 BCE to 500 CE); 2 Post-Classical Era (500 to 1400); 3 Early Modern Era (1400 to 1650); 4 the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (1650 to 1800); 5 the Nineteenth Century(1800 to 1920); 6 Modern Era (1920 to the present). The page extent for the pack is 1744pp. Each volume opens with Notes on Contributors and an Introduction and concludes with Notes, Bibliography, and an Index. The Cultural Histories Series A Cultural History of Plants is part of The Cultural Histories Series. Titles are available both as printed hardcover sets for libraries needing just one subject or preferring a one-off purchase and tangible reference for their shelves, or as part of a fully-searchable digital library available to institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access (see (http://www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com) www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com ). A Cultural History of Plants in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries covers the period from 1650 to 1800,a time of global exploration and the discovery of new species of plants and their potential uses. Trade routes were established which brought Europeans into direct contact with the plants and people of Asia, Oceania, Africa and the Americas. Foreign and exotic plants become objects of cultivation, collection, and display, whilst the applications of plants became central not only to naturalists, landowners, and gardeners but also to philosophers, artists, merchants, scientists, and rulers. As the Enlightenment took hold, the natural world became something to be grasped through reasoned understanding. The 6 volume set of the Cultural History of Plants presents the first comprehensive history of the uses and meanings of plants from prehistory to today. The themes covered in each volume are plants as staple foods; plants as luxury foods; trade and exploration; plant technology and science; plants and medicine; plants in culture; plants as natural ornaments; the representation of plants. Jennifer Milam is Pro Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Art History, University of Newcastle, Australia. Volume 4 in the Cultural History of Plants set.General Editors: Annette Giesecke, University of Delaware, USA, and David Mabberley, University of Oxford, UK. "A Cultural History of Plants presents a global exploration of how plants have shaped human culture. Covering the last 12,000 years, it is the definitive history of how we have cultivated, traded, classified, and altered plants and how, in turn, plants have influenced our ideas of luxury and wealth, health and well-being, art and architecture. Chapter titles are identical across each of the volumes. This gives the choice of reading about a specific period in one of the volumes, or following a theme across history by reading the relevant chapter in each of the six. The themes (and chapter titles) are: Plants as Staple Foods; Plants as Luxury Foods; Trade and Exploration; Plant Technology and Science; Plants and Medicine; Plants in Culture; Plants as Natural Ornaments; The Representation of Plants."-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Contents 6 List of Illustrations 7 Series Preface Annette Giesecke and David J. Mabberley 12 Introduction: Plants and Culture during the Enlightenment Jennifer Milam and Garritt Van Dyk 14 1 Plants as Staple Foods Jane Levi 38 2 Plants as Luxury Foods Garritt Van Dyk 64 3 Trade and Exploration Sarah Easterby-Smith 82 4 Plant Technology and Science Alexandra Cook 98 5 Plants and Medicine Clare Griffin 124 6 Plants in Culture Stephen Bending 142 7 Plants as Natural Ornaments Mark Laird 160 8 The Representation of Plants Ekaterina Heath and Jennifer Milam 182 Notes 208 Bibliography 213 Notes on Contributors 241 Index 243