Natal The Garden Colony: Victorian Natal and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

This lovely book encapsulates within its pages the atmosphere, the history, the botany and the charm of Natal as it developed in Colonial style during the Victorian era. Names, so familiar to every Natalian, find their origin in the characters mentioned chapter by chapter. The unfolding of historical events surrounding the link between plant collectors in Natal and Kew Gardens in England, becomes a fascinating facet of the record existing as regards Natal the garden colony. The development of both the Durban and Pietermaritzburg botanic gardens is traced and the very inception of Kew Gardens itself, with its promotion of botanical exploration throughout the British Empire, and in particular in Natal, is recorded. Sir Theophilus Shepstone, Henry William Currie, Bishop William Colenso, Wilhelm Keit, John Medley Wood, Katharine Saunders and so many more these are just some of the names appearing in this delightful memoir of a bygone era. The work is lavishly illustrated with an original map of the Colony of Natal, many line drawings and full colour reproductions of very fine paintings as well as colour illustrations from Curtis Botanical Magazine. The colour illustrations include reproduction of all sixteen paintings done in Natal by the prolific artist and world traveller, Marianne North, fifteen of which paintings have never been reproduced previously. Her entire collection of 848 works, painted during her extensive travels, is housed in the Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens. Historical photographs of interesting characters and places are featured, as well as a fascinating historical painting of early Durban from the Berea, by the celebrated artist Thomas Baines. The illustrations alone make this work an entrancing account of early Natal, of considerable interest and value as sheer Africana