David Allen has a series of excellent books on the history of natural history to his name; this is one of his best. As a former President of the Botanical Society of the British Isles he writes with authority on the recent history, upsetting a few people with his frankness in the process; but in unravelling the history of the society and its fore-runners, the Botanical Society of London and the Botanical Exchange Club, he unearths a cast of fascinating characters (Hewett Cottrell Watson, G. Claridge Druce to name but two) and shows how religious non-conformity shaped the early progress of botany in Britain. Hard covers, with very slightly soiled dust jacket, otherwise fine.