Kate Teltscher

Puzzle Binding!

Tricky! These are almost as rare as hen's teeth, and we just...
Had One???
And, it includes HOW Many Books? (Five from Germany c. 1601 and a blank one at last count...) #Vexierbuch #DosADos @newberrylibrary.bsky.social (Case C 823 .966)

Photograph of an American bison standing beside a fence at the London Zoo in 1906.

The research guide on Environmental History that I wrote for The National Archives, UK is now live! Includes research advice and resources on colonial environments, pollution, agriculture, and animal histories.

Available here: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-yo...

#envhist #envhum

Decorative cartouche from John Roque's New Plan of Richmond Garden (1748). Naked putti are at work in the garden: rolling the lawn, leaning on a spade and inspecting a garden plan.

Researching eighteenth-century garden labour. Apparently all the work is done by charming putti!

Engraving of Sir Joseph Banks as president of the Royal Society, by N Schiavonetti, 1812. Banks is seated in chair with a massive crest, considered to be in the worst possible taste by Saint-Fond.

Enjoying account of a 1784 Royal Society meeting by French geologist, Faujas de Saint-Fond.
Members were 'pretty much enlivened' after a dinner with vast quantities of drink. Joseph Banks presided in a 'colossal' ugly chair at a table covered by a huge red velvet cushion ('one cannot tell why').

Herbarium World Exploring herbaria and their importance

Great to see recent posts on 'Tree Cultures' issue of Plant Perspectives. Delighted that importance of Heather Craddock's essay is noted (and nice summary of my own!)
@hcraddock.bsky.social @treeseeker.bsky.social @planthums-uk.bsky.social @whitehorsepress.bsky.social
herbariumworld.wordpress.com

1918 poster by Fred Taylor of storks at Kew Gardens, produced by the Underground Railways, for distribution to troops overseas.

The London Mayor's Office recently announced a scheme to reintroduce storks to London.
From 1890 storks formed one of the attractions of Kew Gardens:'their quaint appearance and philosophical habits make them rather in keeping with a botanical garden' (Journal of the Kew Guild, 1902).

Poster showing the seminar schedule. The image is of Louis XVI giving instructions

New seminars on Instructing Colonial Natural History 🌿 We can look forward to papers by Yunting Gu, Adriana Craciun and @nulybranch.bsky.social. For more info see instructingnaturalhistory.com (more info will be added). #skystorians #museums #collecting #histsci #envhist

Come listen to this talk by Dr Heather Craddock, my brilliant former PhD student. It's next Tues Jan 27, 10-11.30 GMT.

#KEW in #JAMAICA by @hcraddock.bsky.social - 2nd talk in #Gardens-Trust #online seminar series #Empires, #Plants & #Gardening' Jan 27 10-11:30 GMT More info & booking: eventbrite.co.uk/e/empires-pl... @kewgardens.bsky.social @UkNatArchives

A real pleasure to talk to Ian Brown from Toronto about the vital renovation of Kew's Palm House in The Globe and Mail
@rbgkew.bsky.social

Colourful cover of 1950 guide book The Romance of Kew: Where Flowers always bloom. Interior of Palm House with red hibiscus and snowy scene outside.

Open-the-flap of cover of guide, The Romance of Kew, reveals summer scene of the pagoda.

Charming open-the-flap cover of 1950 guide to Kew.
The wintery scene in the Palm House transforms to summer and a view of the Pagoda when the door opens. Truly, a garden for all seasons!

Decolonising the Natural History Collections of Empire (in person) Join us for the third annual Royal Historical Society / German Historical Institute Lecture in Global History given by Vinita Damodaran.

This looks great!
The wonderful Vinita Damodaran speaking on Tuesday, Feb 10 at 5:30 pm (GMT).
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decolonisi...

An excellent resource:

Three rake-wielding dancing gardeners. A hand coloured stencil illustration by Edward Bawden from Robert Herring's Adam and Evelyn at Kew (1930)

If anyone needs cheering up, here are three jolly dancing gardeners.
Edward Bawden's illustration from Robert Herring's wonderful Adam and Evelyn at Kew (1930).

Great thread from Sadiah Qureshi with some excellent suggestions for historical starter packs.

Newly Digitized Records Reveal How Indigenous People Shared Their Knowledge of New Zealand's Plants With Captain Cook's Crew Long-overlooked documents housed at London's Natural History Museum testify to the exchange of information between 18th-century European botanists and their Indigenous counterparts

Delighted to see this recent article in the @smithsonianmag.bsky.social by @donnalferguson.bsky.social on some of the research outputs for the Naming Species in the South Pacific project: www.smithsonianmag.com/history/newl... With thanks to our collaborators, @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social

Thank you for this lovely obituary, Andrew. John supervised my DPhil. However witty and acerbic as a reviewer, he was gentleness itself with his students. He had the gift of appearing interested in whatever you had to say. I’m very grateful for his support and cherish the memory of his wry smile.

John Carey

We are incredibly sad to learn of the death of John Carey, whose last three books we were proud to publish at Yale. One of our greatest literary critics, John was a strong advocate for poetry and making it accessible. He was diligent and superb at what he did, but always with a sense of fun.

Thanks for this lovely tribute to the great John Carey, he meant so much to so many of us.

Over a pint in Oxford, we may have stumbled upon the holy grail of agriculture | George Monbiot I knew that a revolution in our understanding of soil could change the world. Then came a eureka moment – and the birth of the Earth Rover Program, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

What a fantastic article and brilliant idea!
George Monbiot on ‘soilsmology’ and the birth of the Earth Rover Program:
//www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/05/agriculture-revolution-soil-farming-earth-rover-program?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Ruthless by Edmond Smith — the brutal rise of Britain’s industrial power The historian’s splendid account sets out the ideas, inventions and relentless exploitation that drove the nation’s growth from 1660-1800

Thrilled to see Ruthless reviewed in the FT by Linda Colley, and to be placed among the FT's books of the week too! 😊

www.ft.com/content/67c1...

The Chinese fan palm and cobra lily by Vishnuprasad from Henry Noltie’s Flora Indica, a masterpiece of botanical-art-historical detective work.
The book accompanies a stunning exhibition at Kew Gardens.
@rbgkew.bsky.social @willdalrymple.bsky.social
@sathnam.bsky.social
@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

‘The universe has opened up for us’: meet the astro-ambassadors who welcome stargazers to the Himalayas A tourism initiative in India’s first dark sky reserve has brought new hope to a community as employment means they can stay close to their roots and culture

The village women turned astro-ambassadors.
A good news story from Ladakh:

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Century-old papers saved from the bin reveal changes in Europe’s plant life Plant inventories dating back to 1884 and nearly thrown away enable unique time-lapse study of biodiversity in Swiss meadows

Great piece on using historic archives to chart biodiversity loss - and a nice piece of (literal) field work!

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Huge thanks to the team at @plantperspectives.bsky.social @whitehorsepress.bsky.social and @sarahwhpress.bsky.social for creating such stunning designs for our special #arborealhumanities issue!
Check out all the beautifully crafted papers, poetry and reviews at whp-journals.co.uk/PP/issue/vie...

It's here!!! 200 pages of #research articles, #narrative #nonfiction, #poetry & #reviews - all on #trees! Many thanks to @whitehorsepress.bsky.social, @treeseeker.bsky.social & all our contributors url.uk.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/9ZIoCojPZH...

‘One of the most superbly beautiful of trees ... worth crossing the globe to see’.
For more on thawka-gyi or 'Pride of Burma', see the latest issue of Plant Perspectives. Open access:
www.whp-journals.co.uk/PP/article/v...

Front and back cover of Plant Perspectives vol 2.2 with image of installation 'Of the Oak' by Marshmallow Laser Feast in Kew Gardens 2025 on the cover.

Amherstia nobilis, hand-coloured lithograph by Maxim Gauci, based on drawing by Vishnuprasad from Nathaniel Wallich, Plantae Asiaticae Rariores 1 (1830).

What is the most beautiful flowering tree in the world? Find out in my essay for Plant Perspectives, ed. by the wonderful Caroline Cornish and Christina Hourigan.
Also features a brilliant essay on ackee by Heather Craddock,
@planthums-uk.bsky.social @treeseeker.bsky.social @hcraddock.bsky.social

Joy and relief as lotus flowers bloom again in Kashmiri lake after three decades Wular Lake once supported 5,000 people who harvested the plant’s edible roots, until the lake silted up after floods. Now the lotuses are back

For a welcome change, here’s a good news environmental story: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

This is sad news indeed.
Peter was extremely generous and encouraging to me when I was starting out on my career. He was very open to interdisciplinary research when that was quite unusual.