CBHL Literature Awards Recognize Excellence in Botanical and Horticultural Literature
May 26, 2016 – Cleveland, Ohio – The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries, Inc.
(CBHL) presented its seventeenth Annual Literature Awards on Thursday, May 26, 2016.
The presentation was made in Cleveland, Ohio during the 48th Annual Meeting hosted by
Cleveland Botanical Garden and Holden Arboretum. The Annual Literature Award, created to
recognize recent noteworthy additions to the literature of botany and horticulture, honored one
book this year for its Overall Significant Contribution, and three more with Awards of
Excellence in their respective subject areas.
The work awarded for making an Overall Significant Contribution to the Literature of Botany or
Horticulture was The curious Mister Catesby: A “truly ingenious” naturalist explores new
worlds, edited for the Catesby Commemorative Trust by E. Charles Nelson and David J. Elliott,
with a foreword by Jane O. Waring and published by the University of Georgia Press. The book
examines Mark Catesby’s (1683-1749) life and work and is targeted for both scholarly and
general audiences. Chapter essays are written by twenty-five experts in a range of fields that
touch on his work and legacy. It’s a wonderful work that captures the early exploration of the
United States’ southeastern coast and the Bahamas.
The Award of Excellence in Botany was given to On the forests of tropical Asia by Peter
Ashton published by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in association with the Arnold Arboretum of
Harvard University. Calling upon his lifelong experience in tropical forests, as well as
referencing the research of others, Peter Ashton has created a wonderfully complete book on the
tropical forests of Asia. Chapters on the biology and ecology of forests and conservation efforts
combine to create a book that is information-dense, yet still accessible. Having a book that so
thoroughly explains how Asian tropical forests function is important to help determine how
climate change and human activity has been affecting these ecosystems.
The Award of Excellence in Plant Identification & Field-Guides was presented to California
mushrooms: The comprehensive identification guide by Dennis E. Desjardin, Michael G. Wood
& Frederick A. Stevens and published by Timber Press. It’s what you want to find in a field
guide, well-organized and illustrated with informative but concise profiles of 650 species
including information on their habitat and edibility.
The Award of Excellence in Biography was given to James Sowerby: The Enlightenment’s
natural historian by Paul Henderson and published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Sowerby was very important in English botany, with his artistic work including drawing the
2,500+ plates in Sowerby and Smith’s English Botany, plates for William Curtis’s Flora
Londinensis, Smith’s A specimen of the botany of New Holland, Sowerby’s Coloured figures of
English fungi or mushrooms, and other natural history works. Paul Henderson has written a
biography of this interesting man, telling not only about his life and work, but the scholarly
world of the enlightenment.
The Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries, Inc. is the leading international
professional organization in the field of botanical and horticultural information services. It
recognizes the critical importance of collecting, preserving, and making accessible the
accumulated knowledge about plants for present and future generations. For more information,
visit our web site at https://www.cbhl.net.
For more information please contact Robin Everly, at [email protected].
View or print PDF of 2016 CBHL Annual Literature Awards Press Release
Consult CBHL Annual Literature Award Winners and Nominees Page
