Royal Kew. 1985. 16 col. and 60 black&white illustr. 256 p. gr8vo. Cloth.

Royal Kew is the first book devoted solely to the intriguing historyof Kew, the botanical garden which now attracts over one million visitors a year. In its early days Kew was the country house of George III, ranking as of equal importance to Windsor. Founded to growplants from overseas, it became essential to the economic development of the British Empire, and most of its history is bound up with that ofthe countries of the Empire. These had as their principle source of wealth, apart from minerals, plants and plant products. Kew has manyeconomic successes to its credit, the most far-reached perhaps being the introduction into the Far East of Para rubber from South America.Kew also contains many other plants of scientific interest.