A Botanical Life. Robert David Fitzgerald. 2013. illus. Paper bd.

Fitzgerald devoted his leisure time to botanical illustration anddocumented the orchids of Australia, publishing his discoveries in hisinternationally acclaimed work, Australian Orchids. In so doing, hecorresponded and engaged with some of the great thinkers of his time,including Ferdinand von Mueller, George Bentham and Charles Darwin. However, his lifelong passion for botanical art covered more than orchidspecies; a large variety of other plants were the subject of hissketches and paintings, many of which are held in the collections of theNational Library of Australia. This book features a portfolio of thesepaintings, accompanied by an introduction to Fitzgerald's life andwork.