Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth-Century Natural History Exchange

Elizabeth McLean of Wynnewood first became fascinated by Peter Collinson at the Barnes Foundation's arboretum school about 30 years ago. Then, she met British horticulturist Jean O'Neill, who felt similarly about the London Quaker who, with another Quaker - Philadelphia's John Bartram - so influenced the world of horticulture in the 18th century.

For 25 years, McLean and O'Neill, who died last year, collaborated on Peter Collinson and the Eighteenth-Century Natural History Exchange. Just published by the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, the work is scrupulously researched and steeply priced, at $75.

Here is the rest of that interview with my mother.

Here is O'Neill's obituary.

I did the cover art.

The book is available from Amazon and the American Philosophical Society