Botanica Magnifica: Portraits of the World's Most Beautiful and Rare Flowers and Plants

Botanica Magnifica features two hundred and fifty stunning photographs by Hasselblad Laureate Award winner Jonathan Singer, representing—in the words of an ARTnews critic—rare or exotic plants and flowers "in large scale and exquisite detail, emerging from the shadows in a manner evocative of Old Master paintings."

The original edition of Botanica Magnifica, consisting of five lavishly hand-bound volumes, was limited to just ten copies, the first of which was recently donated to the Smithsonian Institution. The extra-large "double-elephant" format of that edition was chosen in homage to the famous double-elephant folio of The Birds of America, and indeed, Botanica Magnifica is one of the few works of natural history ever to rival Audubon's magnum opus in its scope and artistry. In praise of the double-elephant folio of Botanica Magnifica, the Smithsonian's Chairman of Botany attested, "Everyone who has seen the photographs . . . has been tremendously impressed with the power, scale, and depth of the work."

Now Singer's remarkable images are available to the public for the first time in this baby-elephant folio of Botanica Magnifica. Like the larger edition, this volume is organized into five alphabetically arranged sections, each introduced by a gatefold page that displays one extraordinary plant at a luxurious size. Each pictured plant is accompanied by a clear and accessible description of its botany, geography, folklore, history, and conservation.

This volume is also available in a leatherbound, slipcased edition. With its marvelous reproductions and fascinating text,the baby-elephant folio of Botanica Magnifica is one of the most impressive volumes of natural history ever published.

An extraordinary collection of two hundred and fifty richly detailed photographs of rare and exotic plants.

Library Journal

Through its size and luxuriant photographs by Hasselblad Laureate Award winner Singer, this publication exalts the beauty and intricacy of plant life in a way unmatched in generations. Singer's ambitious project is a fulfillment of a desire to carry on the centuries-old tradition of botanical illustration while compelling increased awareness of habitat destruction—in his words "to provide the art that will help the science understand the urgency to conserve the world's biodiversity." Each of the over 250 digital images depicts a single species centered over a coal-black ground. The eye focuses on the plant, its unique character precisely accentuated. The photos are composed with such care, the colors so rich, that it is easy to forget that these are not animate beings imbued with real personalities. Singer organizes the images into five thematic sections in which dozens of plants are carefully arranged with brief technical descriptions by Kress (National Museum of Natural History at Smithsonian Inst. Libs.) and Hachadourian (New York Botanical Garden) appended. VERDICT As rare and sublime as the marvels surveyed within its broad covers, Singer has produced a work to rest alongside some of the great botanical codexes in history, one for connoisseurs of the still-life, natural phenomena, and the photographic art.—Douglas F. Smith, Berkeley P.L., CA\

Jonathan Singer’s double-elephant folio of Botanica Magnifica is kept in the Cullman Rare Book Room at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Dr. Singer was named a Hasselblad Laureate Award winner based on his contribution to fine art photography and to “our perception and appreciation of the botanical world.”
W. John Kress is a Curator of Botany and Research Scientist at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution. He is the author of Abbeville’s The Weeping Goldsmith: Discoveries in the Secret Land of Myanmar and has written many articles on botany.
Marc Hachadourian is the Acting Manager of the Nolen Greenhouses for the New York Botanical Garden. He specializes in orchids, aquatics, bulbs, and alpines and is particularly interested in public awareness of global plant conservation and the appreciation of plant biodiversity.