Volume 4
Volume 4 of the Occasional Papers is devoted to studies in the history of British fruit, in honour of the 150th anniversary of Robert Hogg’s Fruit Manual. This study examines the Fruit Manual’s rivals and successors, and examines novelist RD Blackmore’s comments on pears, matched with those of Wisley’s pear expert Jim Arbury.
Fruit is further celebrated in part one of a survey of English fruit illustration in the 19th century, looking at the work of Knight and Ronalds. Illustrations from the RHS Lindley Library compare Hogg’s own apple tracings with hand-coloured drawings from Pyrus Malus Brentfordiensis. The Library’s fine collection of pomonas also let us compare hand coloured and uncoloured plates from editions of Pomona Herefordiensis and Pyrus Malus Brentfordiensis.
Sample Articles