Patricia Butler selects a number of the finest examples of floras from the library collection at the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin
The Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin was established in 1795 by the [Royal] Dublin Society with financial support from the Irish Parliament. From the beginning, it would appear that a strong emphasis was placed on the role of education. Therefore, it is not surprising that one of the first priorities was to establish a library of botanical books, one which pre-dates Kew by over fifty years, the latter being founded in 1853
