And Some Brought Flowers: Plants in a New World

When Martin Frobisher reached the coast of North America in 1576 ‘he commanded his company, if by any possible means they could get ashore, to bring him whatsoever thing they could first find, whether it were living or dead, stock or stone…and some brought flowers.’

Talk about specialized books! This is a botanist’s view of Canadian history, a survey of the exploration and settling of Canada in terms of the plants that the strangers from Europe encountered. Downie and Hamilton have collected hundreds of quotations in which Europeans from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries recorded their delight and astonishment at the variety of plants they discovered in the New World. Revell has made seventy drawings…in a fresh, easy, watercolour style. The result is original and delightful. –Canadian Heritage

I have been absolutely delighted by ‘and some brought flowers’…The book is beautiful. E.J Revell’s pictures are exquisite, a real joy. I like so much that you give the common names (many of which are like small pieces of poetry), and the selections from old diaries, explorers’ notebooks etc. are fascinating. It is wonderful that the [publisher] has given the fine production job that it deserved. –Margaret Laurence