Of my friends who grew up in Derby, there was not one who visited its arboretum as a child. By the 1970s it had acquired a rather unsavoury reputation, fitting neatly with the perception of public parks which had been circulating since the late Victorian period, as run down, contested spaces, full of dangers and antisocial behaviour, with trees ravaged by pollution and ill use. This comprehensive, readable and interesting study of arboreta in the nineteenth century seeks to recover these spaces as microcosms of the enlightenment ideal, to recapture and explain their original purpose as living botanical museums and to position Arboretum Britannicum, and its author, the designer of Derby Arboretum, John Claudius Loudon, more firmly within late Georgian and early Victorian science and scientific culture. A large portion of the volume is a detailed examination of how Loudon's ideal, and the realisation of the arboretum at Derby, challenged the traditional Linnaean system of classification. The book argues that in coming to favour the ‘natural’ system of botany, Loudon's works played a significant role in shaping modern arboriculture as a ‘serious science’. In this he laid the ground-work for the professionalisation of arboriculture, whilst also breaking down the barriers between elite and popular science and gardening by showing that taxonomy and aesthetics could comfortably coexist.

In demonstrating this, the authors have produced a careful and persuasive work. This volume not only embeds trees and arboreta as central to the scientific discussions and controversies of the day, but is one of the few academic studies which seeks to demonstrate the role trees have played in shaping British culture, far beyond just questions of landscape. By contrasting the role of the private arboretum, such as Chatsworth, with the semi public arboreta at Derby and Nottingham, it brings in discussions surrounding enclosure, rational recreation and the dilemma of public access versus scientific integrity. Pleasingly, the breadth of the work also allows it to contextualise and highlight some of the debates in which science, politics and society intersect and addresses questions, such as the idea of ‘native’ and ‘alien’ species and our perceived responsibility to privilege one over the other, with which we still struggle today. It also obliquely addresses our sometimes uncritical sentimentality towards nature, and trees in particular. For whilst Loudon was not blind to the cultural and historical significance of trees, as well as their great beauty, it was within his rationale that veteran trees should be periodically removed from Derby arboretum in order to allow younger specimens to flourish. I suspect that this attitude would be less tolerated today. It is the engagement with these broad ranging themes which means that this volume has resonance beyond the arboretum, and will be of interest not just to historians of science, but to anyone interested in our relationship with nature.