William Roxburgh: The Founding Father of Indian Botany. 2008. Approx. 150 col. figs. XVIII, 286 p. 4to. Hardcover.

Born in the mid 18th-century, William Roxburghwas brought up in the centre of the EdinburghEnlightenment, with all the patronage andintellectual curiosity that this entailed.After joining the East India Company asan Assistant Surgeon on one of their ships,he joined the staff of the General Hospitalat Madras. Soon, he was Company Naturalist,describing many species for the first timewhich inspired some beautiful watercolourdrawings by Indian artists, copies of whichwere sent to Sir Joseph Banks at Kew.Arising from his scientific work, he was appointedthe first paid Superintendent of the CalcuttaBotanic Garden in 1793, where he continuedhis previous experimental work as well as lookinginto the introduction of a wide range of crops.Always looking for ways to improve the lot ofnative workers, to reduce the impact of frequentfamines, he suggested labour-intensive methodsby developing local skills and introducing suitableplants that could be used for food.With important work also on the botany ofthe Cape of Good Hope as well as St Helena,and significant contributions to the fields ofmeteorology, zoology and geology, Roxburghsobituaries referred to him as the greatestbotanist since Linnaeus.Considered by his18th-century contemporariesto be the greatest botanistsince Linnaeus, remarkablythis is the first full biographyof The Founding Fatherof Indian Botany,William Roxburgh.