Herbs. / Lesley Bremness. Photography by Neil Fletcher and Matthew Ward. Editorial Consultant Holly Shimizu. New York, N.Y. : DK Publishing, Inc., 1994. ISBN 1-56458-496-8. 304 p.
The cover states that this book is “the visual guide to more than 700 species from around the world”. Once you imagine how much you’ve got in this handbook of 300 plus pages, and leaf through them quickly you’ll discover the diverse entries that deliver lots of information in a small space. DK (or Dorling Kindersley as it is known in the UK) publishes an imprint called “Eyewitness Handbooks”, on hundreds of different themes, not just natural phenomena, presented in visually captivating detail. DK’s books are difficult to resist collecting as they’ve given the illustrations a sophisticated role in a book’s content. And the style is first-class photographic documentation, so photographs of leaves and stems, fruit, roots, bark, flowers—any parts of the plant which are its defining characteristics—are bright, clean, lovely, and support the text, which is quite clear and concise.
It’s interesting that such a beautiful handbook, created and printed almost 2 decades ago, is a phenomenon of planning and execution that would be difficult to match with a publish date of 2012 or so. Nowadays, mistakes are often made in the too mechanical delivery of information. Lots of information, lots of data equals predictable graphics, or reduced variety in presentation, and that’s not always optimal. After perusing a few pages it becomes laborious to absorb information that is perfunctorily presented, and one ends up tossing a book rather than treasuring it. A good reason to savor handbooks like Herbs is the pleasure they afford. Interesting content is reward in itself, but the presentation is key.
Herbs author Lesley Bremness is a plant writer and herbs enthusiast with many years’ experience collecting and growing herbs in England, Asia, Europe and South Africa. Her knowledge of ethnobotany and herbal medicinal plants fills the text of each entry under “Uses”, and carries distinctive anecdotal “Remarks”. Each entry (more than 700) has been tailored to fit next to and around the photographic representations of a plant, and since plants are varied and unique in shape and size, the text follows the spaces formed by photographic silhouettes in realistic color.
Scanning the collection of entries we find that medicinal herbs of the world are grouped by categories such as Trees, Shrubs, Herbaceous Perennials, Annuals and Biennials, Vines, and Other Herbs. The collection is supported by introductory material on how herbs are used in gardens and on the intrinsic values of these plants.
A Glossary, Index and acknowledgements follow the main text. You can cross-reference any entry by common or botanical (species) name, and learn the basic terminology of herbal medicines alongside names of plant parts such as calyx, frond, and tendril, as well as descriptive terms for shapes of plant patterns and plant parts. All of this fine detail goes a long way towards recognition of herbs as they are found in gardens or in their natural habitat. Yet the non-gardener can easily use this book to reference an herb for traditional uses in healing.
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