The Lindley Library in London is the largest

horticultural Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

library in the world. It is within the headquarters of the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Library

The main part of the library is based at 80

Vincent Square Vincent Square is a grass-covered square in Westminster, London, England, covering 13 acres, lined with mature trees including London Planes. In among a network of backstreets, it chiefly provides playing fields for Westminster School, who own i ...

, London, within the headquarters of its custodian, the

(RHS); the site also includes Lindley Hall, one of the Royal Horticultural Halls. RHS members may borrow books from the London, Wisley and Harlow Carr collections. The Upper Reading Room is open to the public, and holds the 20th-century material available for loans, along with gardening magazines from around the world. Visitors must register if they wish to use the Lower Reading Room which houses historical collections. In 1995 the RHS proposed to relocate the main collection from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Wisley __NOTOC__ Wisley is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England between Cobham and Woking, in the Borough of Guildford. It is the home of the Royal Horticultural Society's Wisley Garden. The River Wey runs through the village and Ockham and ...

, but architect

Rick Mather Rick Mather (May 30, 1937 – April 20, 2013) was an American-born architect working in England. Born in Portland, Oregon and awarded a B.arch. at the University of Oregon in 1961, he came to London in 1963 and worked at the architectural firm L ...

redesigned the accommodation to make better use of the basement. His design was accepted and the project was carried out between 1997 and 2001. The

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

assisted the renovation with a grant, one condition of which was that the library should be opened up to public access.Visit to the Lindley Library
by

CILIP The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the ...

, 2009. Retrieved 2011-10-07. The library is based upon the book collection of English botanist

John Lindley John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...

, and has many rare books dating from 1514. It also includes other media such as garden guidebooks, trade catalogues, postcards and press cuttings. As well as horticulture, the collection covers

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. E ...

, birds and other related subjects. The London site also includes the RHS' collection of paintings and photographs. In 2009 the Library started issuing a series of papers (''Occasional Papers''). The London collection suffered minor damage in a fire in July 2011. No valuable works were lost.Fire hits RHS Lindley Library
''

Horticulture Week ''Horticulture Week'' is a British horticultural periodical, covering nursery production, garden retail, landscaping, arboriculture, garden heritage, groundsmanship and amenity horticulture. History and profile ''Horticulture Week'' was establis ...

'', 2 August 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-07.

Librarians

The first librarian was W. T. Thiselton-Dyer (1871–1875), later Director at Kew, followed by W. B. Hemsley (1875–1878). Amongst other notable librarians was

William Thomas Stearn William Thomas Stearn (16 April 1911 – 9 May 2001) was a British botanist. Born in Cambridge in 1911, he was largely self-educated, and developed an early interest in books and natural history. His initial work experience was at ...

(1933–1952), who succeeded H. R. Hutchinson. More recently were Peter Stageman (1957) and Dr Brent Elliott who was librarian (1982–2007), and subsequently the RHS historian. He initiated and edited the ''Occasional Papers''.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * HR Hutchinson (1927). The Lindley Library: Catalogue of Books, Pamphlets, Manuscripts and Drawings. RHS

External links

Lindley Library
RHS official website {{coords, 51.4944, -0.1347, display=title Royal Horticultural Society Horticultural organisations based in the United Kingdom Research libraries in the United Kingdom