Recollections of a Happy Life
Being the Autobiography of Marianne North

The Victorian botanist and painter Marianne North records her tropical journeys around the world in this two-volume 1892 autobiography.

Marianne North (Author), Janet Symonds (Edited by)

9781108041294, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 29 December 2011

348 pages, 1 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2 cm, 0.44 kg

Marianne North (1830–90), the Victorian amateur botanist and painter, travelled to distant countries of the world to paint exotic flora in their natural surroundings. This two-volume collection of her memoirs, edited by her sister and published in 1892, records North's remarkable travels. Laden with her palettes and easels, the independent North travelled alone and fended for herself. Her journals describe how she endured swarms of insects, scaled cliffs, trudged through wilderness and crossed swamps in order to reach the plants she wanted to paint. Volume 2 covers North's travels to Australia and New Zealand, which she undertook at the suggestion of Charles Darwin. The work concludes with the last journey she made, to Chile in 1884–5, to paint the monkey-puzzle tree in its natural habitat. This autobiography reveals the stories behind North's art, which can still be appreciated today since her vivid paintings are displayed at Kew Gardens.

10. Hill places in India
11. Rajputana
12. Second visit to Borneo. Queensland. New South Wales
13. Western Australia. Tasmania. New Zealand
14. South Africa
15. Seychelles Islands, 1883
16. Chili.

Subject Areas: Botany & plant sciences [PST]