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Description Often regarded as the ‘Cinderella’ of palaeontological studies, palaeobotany has a history that contains some fascinating insights into scientific endeavour, especially by palaeontologists who were perusing a personal interest rather than a career. The problems of maintaining research facilities in universities, especially in the modern era, are described and reveal a noticeable absence of a national UK strategy to preserve centres of excellence in an avowedly specialist area. Accounts of some of the pioneers demonstrate the importance of collaboration between taxonomists and illustrators. The importance of palaeobotany in the rise of geoconservation is outlined, as well as the significant and influential role of women in the discipline. Although this volume has a predominantly UK focus, two very interesting studies outline the history of palaeobotanical work in Argentina and China.

Contents History of Palaeobotany: an Introduction, A J Bowden, C V Burek and R Wilding • The Beginnings • From the rise of the Enlightenment to the beginnings of Romanticism, R Wilding • The Moravian Minister Rev. Henry Steinhauer (1782-1818); his work on fossil plants, their first 'scientific' description and the planned Mineral Botany, H S Torrens • The early 19th century• John Lindley, the reluctant palaeobotanist, W G Chaloner and H L Pearson • Illustrations and illustrations during the 'Golden Age' of palaeobotany: 1800-1840, C J Cleal, M Lazarus and A Townsend • The later 19th century and into the 20th century • Hugh Miller: introducing palaeobotany to a wider audience, L I Anderson • Baron Achille de Zigno: an Italian palaeobotanist of the 19th century, H L Pearson • The palaeobotanical beginnings of geological conservation: with case studies from the USA, Canada and Great Britain, B A Thomas • Palaeobotanical studies and collecting in the 19th century with particular reference to the Ravenhead Collection and Henry Hugh Higgins, W Simkiss and A J Bowden • The palaeobotanical work of Marie Stopes, W G Chaloner • James Lomax (1857-1934): palaeobotanical catalyst or hindrance? A C Howell • D.H. Scott and A.C Seward: modern pioneers in the structure and architecture of fossil plants, R Wilding • Arthur Raistrick: Britain's premier palynologist, J E A Marshall • The life and work of Emily Dix (1904-1972), C V Burek and C J Cleal • The fate of three university schools of palaeobotany/palynology • The 'other' Glasgow Boys: the rise and fall of a school of palaeobotany, J J Liston and H L Sanders • One hundred and fifty years of Palaeobotany at Manchester University, J Watson • Half a century of palynology at the University of Sheffield, C H Wellman • From other continents • The history of palaeobotany in Argentina during the 19th century, E G Ottone • The rise of Chinese palaeobotany emphasizing the global context, Q G Sun •

Reviews

In their superb new book, the editorial team of Bowden. Burek and Wilding have captured the tangled family history of palaeobotany in the only honest and vibrant way: as a series of loosely connected vignettes of its most colourful characters. History of Palaeobotany: Selected Essays is a treasure-trove of extraordinary personalities, baffling experiments, and spectacular discoveries, the latter made more often than not with that essential item of the palaeobotanical toolbox: the tea strainer!

Howard Falcon-Lang (University of Bristol)

This review was featured in Geology Today, Vol 22, No. 2 March-April 2006

This review was submitted by:
Sales Dept
11 January 2006

I hope it is taken by libraries to be a future valuable resource for those interested in the history of science.

This review was submitted by:
Andrew C. Scott : Geological Magazine, Volume 144/5 - 2007
15 May 2008

...useful source of information for one part of the global picture.

Robert S Hill
Faculty of Sciences, University of Adelaide

This review was featured in TAG June 2008

This review was submitted by:
Mrs Julie Webster
04 March 2009