Hortus Kewensis

Kew became a favored location for English courtiers after the establishment of Richmond Palace nearby under the Tudors. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew began as the private garden of Henry Capell of Tewkesbury and then Samuel Molyneux,{{sfnp|Enc. Brit.|1882}} who served as secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of George II and father of George III of England. Frederick then leased Kew House, began planning an enormous greenhouse, and had his close friend John Stuart, earl of Bute, begin requesting plant specimens from British agents around the world.{{citation |last= |first= |contribution-url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/1057340/hortus-kewensis-sistens-herbas-exoticas-indigenasque-rariores-in-area-botanica |contribution=Hortus Kewensis... |url=https://www.rct.uk/collection |title=The Royal Collection |publisher=Royal Collection Trust |location=London |date=2024 |ref={{harvid|RCT|2024}} }}. After his death, Frederick's widow Augusta expanded its gardens still further in cooperation with Bute and William Aiton.{{sfnp|RCT|2024}}

The first edition of {{lang|la|Hortus Kewensis}} was published in Latin in 1768.{{sfnp|Hill|1768}} It was compiled by John Hill at Augusta's request and listed 2700 plants at the Garden.{{sfnp|RCT|2024}} The 2nd edition published in 1769{{sfnp|Hill|1769}} included a further 700 plants.{{sfnp|RCT|2024}}

The third edition, the first English edition, was compiled by Daniel Solander, Jonas Carlsson Dryander, and Robert Brown{{sfnp|Desmond|1995|pp=104-106}} and published in 1789 under the name of William Aiton,{{Cite ODNB |title=Aiton, William (1731–1793), horticulturist |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-260 |access-date=12 May 2023 |date=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/260}}{{sfnp|Aiton & al.|1789}} whose 1773 plant list formed the basis of their work.{{sfnp|Desmond|1995|p=104}} Solander, Dryander, and Brown were the successive librarians and curators of Joseph Banks's collections,{{sfnp|Desmond|1995|pp=104-106}} who had presumably directed Aiton to compile his index of the Kew Garden to aid his own {{lang|la|Florilegium}}.{{cite book|title=The History of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew|first=Ray|last=Desmond|date=1995|page=104}}

By the time of this edition, the garden included the vast majority of plant species in cultivation in all of England.{{sfn|Pagmenta|2009}} It included information on the country of origin, who introduced the plant into English cultivation, and when. It is therefore now considered one of the most important sources of information on history of horticulture in England.{{sfn|Richmond|2010}} This edition of the {{lang|la|Hortus Kewensis}} was published as a comparatively large run of 1250 copies.{{cite book|title=Great Natural History Books and their Creators|first=Ray|last=Desmond|date=2003|page=18}}

A fourth edition, the second English edition (abbr. {{lang|la|Ait. Kew.}}), was published between 1810 and 1813{{Cite book |last1=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/305115 |title=Kew Record Book (1793–1809) |last2=Royal Botanic Gardens |first2=Kew |date=1793 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |location=[unpublished}} with the bulk of the new information added by Aiton's son William Townsend Aiton.{{sfnp|Aiton & al.|1810–1813}}

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{{Reflist}}

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• {{citation |last=Hill |first=John |author-link=John Hill (botanist) |url=https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_hortus-kewensis-sistens_hill-john_1768 |title=Hortus Kewensis... |language=la |trans-title=Kew Garden... |date=1768 |edition=1st |location=London |publisher=Richard Baldwin & John Ridley }}.
• {{citation |last=Hill |first=John |author-link=John Hill (botanist) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZxA1cyzYlLIC&pg=PP9 |title=Hortus Kewensis... |language=la |trans-title=Kew Garden... |date=1769 |edition=2nd |location=London |publisher=Richard Baldwin & John Ridley }}.
• {{cite book |last=Aiton |first=William |author-link=William Aiton |author2=Daniel Solander |author3=Jonas Carlsson Dryander |author4=Robert Brown |display-authors=1 |title=Hortus Kewensis, or, A Catalogue of the Plants Cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/4504#/summary |publisher=George Nicol |location=London |year=1789 |ref={{harvid|Aiton & al.|1789}} }}
• [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/23432 Volume I]
• [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/23433 Volume II]
• [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/23434 Volume III]
• {{cite book |last=Aiton |first=William Townsend |author-link=William Townsend Aiton |author2=William Aiton |author2-link=William Aiton |display-authors=1 |ref={{harvid|Aiton & al.|1810–1813}} |title=Hortus Kewensis, or, A Catalogue of the Plants Cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/105339#/summary |publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown |location=London |year=1810–1813 }}
• [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/186409 Volume I]
• [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/186410 Volume II]
• [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/185204 Volume III]
• [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/185200 Volume IV]
• [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/185941 Volume V]
• {{citation |last= |first= |editor=Thomas Spencer Baynes |editor2=William Robertson Smith |display-editors=0 |contribution=Kew |title=Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed. |series=Vol. XIV |date=1882 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |ref={{harvid|Enc. Brit.|1882}} }}.
• {{cite book|last1=Pagmenta|first1=Frank|title=The Aitons: Gardeners to their Majesties|date=2009|publisher=Richmond Local History Society|location=Richmond|isbn=9780955071751|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2wGywAACAAJ}}
• {{cite web|title=Royal Gardeners at Kew – The Aitons|url=http://www.richmondhistory.org.uk/wordpress/publications/79-2/|publisher=The Richmond Local History Society|access-date=28 April 2016|date=2010|ref={{harvid|Richmond|2010}}}}

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Category:Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Category:Botany books

Category:Botany in Europe

Category:1780s in science

Category:1789 non-fiction books

Category:1810 non-fiction books

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