Philip Miller Figures of the Most Beautiful, Useful and Uncommon Plants Described in the Gardner’s Dicitionary1771
Philip Miller (1691-1771) had a most successful and distinguished career as head gardner of the Chelsea Physic Garden. He corresponded with botanists throughout the world to collect plants and then cultivated the various new species for the first time in England at Chelsea.
He was credited with raising the Chelsea Garden to a very high standard and his botanical expertise was acknowledged by his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society. In Figures, Miller used some of the outstanding botanical artists of the day including Georg Dionysius Ehret, John Miller, Richard Lancake among others. In the preface, Miller states “In the execution of the work no expense has been spared to render it as perfect as possible. The drawings were taken from living plants, the engravings were most of them done under the author’s inspection and the plates have been carefully coloured from the original drawings.” Figures is a handsome publication and deserves a place among the finest botanical books.
