Recollections of a Happy Life. Being the Autobiography of Marianne North. 2 vols. 1892. (Reprint 2011). (Cambridge Library Collection, Life Sciences). illus. 688 p. gr8vo. Paper bd.

Marianne North (1830-90), the Victorian amateur botanistand painter, travelled to distant countries of the world to paint exotic flora in their natural surroundings. This two-volume collection of her memoirs, edited by her sister and published in 1892, records North's remarkable travels. Volume 1 describes North's early upbringing and the origins of her enthusiasm for nature, and traces hertravels through Canada and the United States, Jamaica, Brazil, Japan and India. Volume 2 covers North's travels to Australasia, which she undertook at the suggestion of Charles Darwin. The work concludes with the last journey she made, to Chile in 1845, to paint themonkey-puzzle tree.