Reviews
A Book exploring the story of one of the world's greatest plant collection has been unveiled. Yesterday the 168 page Liverpool University Press book, Mr Roscoe's Garden was unveiled at the Walker Art Gallery., The Liverpool Botanical Garden was the first botanical garden to be created by public subscription. it was founded by William Roscoe (1753-1831) and opened its doors in 1803. In 1836 the garden had outgrown its space and escaped the growing city and its smoke to a more rural location called Wavertree. The garden was purchased by the city (1841), parts were transferred to the City Museum and Library (1908), and it was bombed (1941) and rebuilt (1951-1964). Amidst public outcry, the garden ultimately failed over labor disputes in 1984, its history and plants already repeatedly interrupted. Bradley's anecdotes convey the frustrations that accompany this circuitous history. Bradley's bookis intended to act as a personal visit to these gardens -- a virtual visit that crosses time, space and place. The first part is a sequence of images; a personal repartee between pictures that I have taken, found or been lent. It's purely a visual journey. ... An essay follows, a "garden guide," exploring the story and what feels meaningful to me about it. A catalogue of images and a short chronology concludes (n.p.).Bradley put together a beautiful visual journey in fact. Perusing the book is somewhat like walking through an art gallery -- beautiful and sometimes haunting. The book is important to my archival work for Bradley's wonderful contemporary portraits, which have all been noted in our biographical files, but the book alas is frustrating, too: there are no page numbers, no captions, no index. It is difficult to reconcile the photos with the text and figure out who is who. Bradley's concise timeline of a complex history, interviews with plants folk and garden activists and her evocative photography save the work, and I recommend finding a copy. Bradley was artist in residence for the Fragrant Liverpool Project, an international conceptual art project, and this book is the culmination of her research., Jyll Bradley approaches her subject with great sensitivity and has made her own the cause of those both living and dead whose portraits appear in these pages...beautifully produced book...is a delightful and informative book.
Synopsis
Jyll Bradley draws together the compelling tales of the Botanic Collection's history in this creatively ambitious and beautifully illustrated book, evoking the people that made the collection and the distant lands that supplied the plants. By the early nineteenth century the Liverpool Botanic Collection was one of the greatest botanic gardens of its day, filled with strange and rare plants arriving on ships through the City's port from an ever-widening imperial world, Mr Roscoe's Garden is a key outcome of The Fragrant Liverpool project. Conceived by Jyll Bradley, this is a unique international art project exploring the stories, rites and exchanges that occur when a flower is cut and placed in the human hand. The project centres on the fascinating story of the Liverpool's Botanic Collection and the people involved in its intriguing history. Established by William Roscoe in 1802, and moved to more extensive sites in both 1846 when it became a public facility and in 1964, the complete Botanic Collection has not been on display since 1984 when it closed to the public in a political storm that mirrored the cataclysmic 1980s decline of Liverpool itself. The collection thus has both a glorious and tragic past. Jyll Bradley draws together the compelling tales of the Botanic Collection's history in this creatively ambitious and beautifully illustrated book, evoking the people that made the collection and the distant lands that supplied the plants. By the early nineteenth century the Liverpool Botanic Collection was one of the greatest botanic gardens of its day, filled with strange and rare plants arriving on ships through the City's port from an ever-widening imperial world. By the mid-twentieth the Collection included the greatest orchid collection ever amassed in municipal Britain, as it still does today. While the indignity of the closure lives on, so do, by miracle, the living plants and the dried plants (in Liverpool's magnificent Herbarium); the books; the paintings and all the other riches that have, at one time, or another, co-existed in the Liverpool Botanic Gardens. The glory days are still in the past, but the plant collections have continued to be nurtured and grown and Liverpool's current revival has signalled a new future for the Collection. Painstakingly designed by Jyll Bradley, Mr Roscoe's Garden is a work of art in itself. Its publication also coincides with the re-emergence of the collection as goes to the Chelsea Flower Show for the first time in 30 years and the Gardens open once again to the public., 'Mr Roscoe's Garden is a key outcome of The Fragrant Liverpool project. Conceived by Jyll Bradley, this is a unique international art project exploring the stories, rites and exchanges that occur when a flower is cut and placed in the human hand. The project centres on the fascinating story of the Liverpool's Botanic Collection and the people involved in its intriguing history. Established by William Roscoe in 1802, and moved to more extensive sites in both 1846 when it became a public facility and in 1964, the complete Botanic Collection has not been on display since 1984 when it closed to the public in a political storm that mirrored the cataclysmic 1980s decline of Liverpool itself. The collection thus has both a glorious and tragic past. Jyll Bradley draws together the compelling tales of the Botanic Collection's history in this creatively ambitious and beautifully illustrated book, evoking the people that made the collection and the distant lands that supplied the plants. By the early nineteenth century the Liverpool Botanic Collection was one of the greatest botanic gardens of its day, filled with strange and rare plants arriving on ships through the City's port from an ever-widening imperial world. By the mid-twentieth the Collection included the greatest orchid collection ever amassed in municipal Britain, as it still does today. While the indignity of the closure lives on, so do, by miracle, the living plants and the dried plants (in Liverpool's magnificent Herbarium); the books; the paintings and all the other riches that have, at one time, or another, co-existed in the Liverpool Botanic Gardens. The glory days are still in the past, but the plant collections have continued to be nurtured and grown and Liverpool's current revival has signalled a new future for the Collection. Painstakingly designed by Jyll Bradley, Mr Roscoe's Garden is a work of art in itself. Its publication also coincides with the re-emergence of the collection as goes to the Chelsea Flower Show for the first time in 30 years and the Gardens open once again to the public.
