The authors thank The New York Botanical Garden, in particular Susan Fraser, now retired Director of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library, not only for introducing us, but for presenting two exhibitions that influenced Bobbi greatly, planting the seeds that became this book: Darwin’s Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure (2008) and Redouté to Warhol: Bunny Mellon’s Botanical Art (2016). Our deepest appreciation, too, to Peter Crane, Oak Spring Garden Foundation President, Tony Willis, Head Librarian, and OSGF photographer Jim Morris for their keen support and enthusiasm, hosting Bobbi as she researched the botanical art selections (special thanks to Tony for being especially helpful in presenting the books and manuscripts for Bobbi to peruse), kindly providing high-quality images of the artwork, and contributing the fine Foreword and the sections on Bunny Mellon’s collection and our botanical art selections.
We were in fine hands from start to finish with Timber Press, beginning with our editors, Tom Fischer and Andrew Beckman, for whose enthusiasm, support, and advice we are deeply grateful. Many thanks, too, to Project Editor Jacoba Lawson for her careful and thorough copyediting and help shepherding the book through production, and to Timber Press’s designers for their fine efforts in crafting the look and feel of the book. We could not have asked for a better publishing team!
Last but not least, this project benefitted tremendously from the assistance and critical comments of numerous friends and colleagues. Many thanks to Gustavo Romero (Gray Herbarium of Harvard University) and Susan Fraser, Jacquelyn Kallunki, Robbin Moran, and Robert Naczi at the New York Botanical Garden for their invaluable comments on the manuscript, and to Samantha D’Acunto, Susksma Dittakavi, and Olga Marta at the Mertz Library for kindly providing scans of Darwin’s woodcut images. Very special thanks, finally, to Leslie Costa and Matt Candeias (In Defense of Plants), who read the entire manuscript and provided numerous helpful comments and corrections—needless to say, any errors that may remain are our sole responsibility.