Sylva, Or, a Discourse of Forest Trees. With an Essay on the Life and Works of the Author. 2 vols. set. 4th ed. 1908. (Reprint 2012). (Cambridge Library Collection, Life Sciences). 1 illus. CXV, 622 p. Paper bd.

John Evelyn (1620-1706), intellectual, diarist, gardenerand founder member of the Royal Society, is best known for his Diary, the great journal of his life and times, encompassing a momentous period in British history. A lifelong collector of books, like his contemporary Pepys, Evelyn amassed over 4000 items in his library. This work, originally published in 1664, was the first English-language treatise on forestry. Intended for the gentry, it aimed to encourage tree-planting after the ravages of the Civil War and to ensure a supply of timber for Britain's fast-developing navy. The first work sponsored officially by the Royal Society, it was an offshoot of Evelyn's unpublished manuscript Elysium Britannicum, a compendium of gardens and gardening. This is the 1908 two-volume reprint of the fourth edition, published in the year of Evelyn's death.