J. H. Maiden; Margaret Flockton
Sydney: William Applegate Gullick, John Spence, and Adam James Kent, Government Printers, 1903-1931.

A complete set, being 75 parts in 8 volumes, containing over 3000 pages and 304 plates, 12 of which are in colour, and 4 of which are maps, of Joseph Henry Maiden’s masterpiece in the field of botanical research, and his major taxonomical work alongside his Forest Flora of New South Wales. The set is illustrated chiefly with lithographs by Margaret Flockton, together with several by Matilda Smith, a facsimile of L’Heritier, and 4 maps, as well as a photographic illustration by L. C. Webster, and a photographic portrait of Maiden in one of the posthumous volumes therein also published an obituary by Richard Hind Cambage. The project, which took 28 years to be published, the final parts prepared by Maiden before his death in 1925 and published posthumously edited by Cambage and William Blakely, was an extension of the work started by Ferdinand von Mueller and George Bentham in Flora Australiensis and continued by Mueller in his Eucalyptographia, devising classifications based on the characteristics of the stamens, and remained an important reference for many years. Maiden’s study of eucalyptus was completed alongside his duties as Government Botanist and Director of the Botanic Gardens, which he commenced in 1896. A talented and enthusiastic botanist Maiden established the colony’s first herbarium, the National Herbarium of New South Wales, together with a museum and library. Among his many studies and achievements he was also responsible for the construction of Sydney’s first playground and worked tirelessly to develop the educational value of the Botanical Gardens for all Australians.