“Nature herself was proud of his designs, and joy’d to wear the dressing if his lines”
Ben Jonson- First Folio of Shakespeare


A stunning collection of flowers, fruits, herbs and trees mentioned in Shakespeare’s works, illustrated by the japanese artist Sumiè Hasegawa-Collins, who traced beautiful designs.

The botanical expert Gerit Quealy enriched the beautiful images with information, creating a real compendium of plants. The aim of the book is to put a “face”, as the Author says, with the plant name, paired with the attendant quotes, alphabetically reunited.

The only problem with Shakespeare, Quealy says, is that he is so familiar that he’s too familiar! “Even little kids seem to know –to be or not to be- even if they don’t know why or how; it’s grained with the culture.” As by Poet Robert Graves “The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he’s really very good…in spite of all the people who says he’s very good.”

This enchanting collection is also enriched by the introduction of Helen Mirren where she says that “this graceful volume is the marriage of Shakespeare’s words about plants and the plants themselves.” Enjoy your reading!

Gerit Quealy
BOTANICAL SHAKESPEARE
An illustrated compendium
Illustrated by Sumiè Hasegawa-Collins
Foreword by Helen Mirren