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Welcome to the RHS Lindley Collections catalogue where you can explore over 500 years of gardening history and science.
Archive Collections - Our fascinating archival collections capture the history of the RHS and of gardening in general. The archive includes important manuscripts created by key figures in the history of British horticulture such as Capability Brown, David Douglas, Russell Page and Gertrude Jekyll. Just as fascinating are the records donated by ordinary gardeners meaning the collection spans everything from Royal gardens to allotments and window boxes.
Heritage Collections - Our Heritage Collections cover a wealth of horticultural history in many formats. Our botanical artworks, dating from the early 17th Century to contemporary pieces, are not just beautiful; they capture important historical and scientific information. Our photography collection includes autochromes, glass lantern slides, prints and transparencies. We have the finest collection of carte-de-visite portraits of 19th Century botanists and gardeners and the photographic archive of Patrick Taylor’s British and Irish gardens; Ephemera is material created for only short-term use but what survives can tell us a great deal about the past. Our collection includes advertising, seed packets, garden guidebooks, postcards, horticultural greeting cards and games; we have a small collection of objects connected with the history of the RHS and garden tools.
Nursery catalogues - Our collection of nursery and horticultural trade catalogues is one of the most significant in Europe, and dates back to 1612. Nursery catalogues show the changing patterns of commercial plant growing and are vital in tracking the history of plant introductions.
Requesting items from the Collection
You can request to view items from our collections by booking an appointment or receive digital copies for items not currently available on the portal. Please find more details on this service here:
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Our online catalogue is a work in progress and is being continuously updated to increase the number of records available for searching so do keep checking back to see what’s been added.