A collection of essays about this most extraordinary C17th woman, artist, traveller and naturalist; looks at her methods and materials, her journey to Suriname, her entomological studies, he... read more
Plant-hunting did not die with Frank Kingdon-Ward in 1958: very important work continues, highly skilled, technical and complex, but brings little or no fame to this intrepid band. We hope t... read more
Its second subtitle is "an adventurous history of botany". JG is a scientist and an historian of exploration (his "The Rattlesnake: A Voyage of Discovery to the Coral Sea" was excellent).
Lucy Atkinson (1817-1893) was an English Atkinson was an English nanny working in Russia. In 1848 she set out with her new husband on a six-year exploration of Siberia and Central Asia, by f... read more
A revisionist account by the distinguished historian, which argues that Magellan was less of a hero and more of a treacherous, irresponsible, tyrannical adventurer.
There are those who swear he was a spy, others who insist he was too scatty or essentially lazy to be one. Whatever the truth, he was an exceptional linguist (Iranian, Afghan Persian, Arabic... read more
The author of Oblomov spent the years 1852-1854 as secretary to Admiral Putyatin on board the Pallada; they sailed to Java, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Shanghai, the Philippines and Korea. ... read more
Fritz D?rries was a German entomologist who first travelled to Siberia as a young man in 1877. He went on to spend a total of twenty-two years there, encountering tigers, bandits, vipers and... read more