The New Sylva

the long version

In 1664, the British horticulturist and diarist John Evelyn published Sylva. This comprehensive study of the nation's trees was the first book ever published by the Royal Society. It was also the world's earliest forestry book. Evelyn's elegant prose still has much to tell us today, but the world has changed dramatically since his day. Now authors Gabriel Hemery and Sarah Simblet, taking inspiration from the original work, have masterfully created a contemporary resource--The New Sylva. Silvologist Gabriel Hemery explains what trees really mean to us culturally, environmentally and economically--followed by forty-four detailed tree portrait sections that describe the history and the features of trees such as oak, elm, beech, willow, fir, pine, juniper, plane, apple and pear.