Flora of the British Isles, Clapham, Tutin & Warburg, Cambridge University Press, 1952

Flora of the British Isles is a landmark botanical reference that brought together the expertise of Arthur Roy Clapham, Thomas Geoffrey Tutin, and Edmund Frederic Warburg to create the first comprehensive, modern checklist and identification guide to Britain’s native and naturalised vascular plants.

Written for both professional botanists and serious amateurs, the book opens with clear explanations of terminology and keys, then provides detailed species accounts—covering diagnostic characters, habitat preferences, flowering times, and distribution within Britain and Ireland. Its meticulously structured dichotomous keys, concise descriptions, and thoughtfully arranged nomenclature set a new standard for field floras; many practising botanists still regard “CTW” as a cornerstone of British plant taxonomy. The volume’s rigorous scholarship, tempered with practical accessibility, helped unify post-war botanical recording and laid the groundwork for later revisions and atlases.

Flora of the British Isles, by A.R. Clapham, T.G. Tutin and E.F. Warburg.

Published by The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, 1952. First edition.

A very good green cloth hardback with gilt titles to spine. Light wear and bumping to extremities. Previous owner's inscription in pencil to first free endpaper (Balfour –  a prominent Fife family, well known for their contribution to forestry, conservation and land management),

Soundly bound. The text is very good throughout. With some line illustrations (and one example of a pressed flower loosely inserted into one of the spreads).

Text in English.

li + (2) Signs and Abbreviations on blue paper +1591pp.

Dimensions: approximately 191mm  x 132mm x 49mm.

Weight: Approximately 887g (unpacked).