Collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access will require additional advanced notice. Unless noted, digital media are not available online. Copies of unrestricted digital files will be provided for use in the SCRC Reading Room upon request. Access will be provided to use copies of unrestricted digital files rather than carrier media, such as CDs, DVDs, and floppy disks. Some or all electronic files may be unavailable or restricted due to privacy reasons, agreement with the donor, software is not available to interact with files, or because files cannot be retrieved from original media.
The English Manuscript Herbarium, circa 1836, contains five volumes of 208 specimens including flowers, grasses, ferns, and mosses. The collection was gathered by an unknown individual but is organized according to John Lindley’s The Natural System of Botany. Lindley was a lifelong botanist who served at the Horticultural Society of London, now the Royal Horticultural Society, taught botany at London University, and published extensively on botany and horticulture.
Although the volumes’ creator is unknown, they followed the arrangement guidelines of John Lindley’s The Natural System of Botany and The Penny Encyclopedia of the Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge.
Lindley was born in Norwich, England in 1799, and began pursuing botany by the age of 18, finishing his first publication, Rosarum Monographia, at age 21. He studied orchids under William Cattley, an English merchant, and then began service for the Horticultural Society of London, now the Royal Horticultural Society, in 1822. In 1829, he started teaching at London University, serving as the school’s first botany professor, where he remained until 1860. Lindley also successfully advocated for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew when the English government threatened to abolish it in 1840 and studied potato blight for a government commission in 1845.
Lindley was inspired by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu’s natural system of organizing botany and produced his own “An Introduction to the Natural System of Botany” in 1830. His system focuses on geography and natural relationships rather than plants’ physical similarities when grouping them.
The English Manuscript Herbarium, circa 1836, includes five volumes containing 208 flower, grass, fern, and moss specimens. Volume one has 34 flowering plants. Volume two has 47 flowering plants, lichen, fungi, and algae. Volume three has 30 ferns. Volume four has 29 grasses, and volume five has 68 mosses. The specimens, excluding volumes one and two, are bound by silk ties and labeled and described in ink. The descriptions include common and latin names along with various poems and stories. While most of the specimens are bound uniformly, there is a grass specimen, Cultivated Briza, bound by a colorful ribbon, along with bouquets of plants at the ends of the first two volumes. Specimens are arranged according to John Lindley’s The Natural System of Botany, and Volume two appears to follow the organization of Lindley’s The Penny Encyclopedia of the Society for the diffusion of useful knowledge.
This collection is arranged by volume.
The NC State University Libraries generally claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. Libraries staff are unable to advise on copyright and other legal matters; the user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Helpful resources for assessing copyright include Cornell Libraries' "Copyright Services: Copyright Term and the Public Domain" and copyright.gov. This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information about identifiable living individuals, which may be protected under federal or state laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that there may be legal ramifications for disclosing this information.
The University Archives operates in accordance with the State Public Records Act, with unrestricted access to records not covered by state and federal statutes and regulations.
[Identification of item], English Manuscript Herbarium, MC 00804, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Purchase, 2025 December (Accession 2026.0020).
Finding aid written by: Ella Mayfield, 2026 February; Processed by Ella Mayfield, 2026 October.
Collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access will require additional advanced notice. Unless noted, digital media are not available online. Copies of unrestricted digital files will be provided for use in the SCRC Reading Room upon request. Access will be provided to use copies of unrestricted digital files rather than carrier media, such as CDs, DVDs, and floppy disks. Some or all electronic files may be unavailable or restricted due to privacy reasons, agreement with the donor, software is not available to interact with files, or because files cannot be retrieved from original media.
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[Identification of item], English Manuscript Herbarium, MC 00804, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
The NC State University Libraries generally claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. Libraries staff are unable to advise on copyright and other legal matters; the user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Helpful resources for assessing copyright include Cornell Libraries' "Copyright Services: Copyright Term and the Public Domain" and copyright.gov. This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information about identifiable living individuals, which may be protected under federal or state laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that there may be legal ramifications for disclosing this information.
The University Archives operates in accordance with the State Public Records Act, with unrestricted access to records not covered by state and federal statutes and regulations.