BA02 T.P. Stokoe: man, myths, flowers (available in SOUTH AFRICA only)

South African addressees only; Courier delivery only

Amida Johns and Peter Slingsby have scoured the Cape’s archives and its herbaria to uncover the intriguing story of Thomas Pearson Stokoe. Born in the tenements of Tyneside in 1868, TP Stokoe left England in 1911 with a team of lithographers to staff the photographic department of the Cape Times Limited. He was 43 years old. Within a few years at the Cape he had established a reputation as an outstanding mountaineer and botanical collector of note. More than thirty species of plants – and a beetle – were named in his honour over the next 48 years. He was also the original collector of hundreds more plants.

This biography will surely go down as one of the best researched, illustrated and produced books of its kind.                                                                                          – Prof. Eugene Moll, University of the Western Cape

 In this full-colour volume Amida and Peter have illustrated the astonishing variety of TP’s botanical collections, many of them plants of extreme rarity that have never been illustrated in books before. They have told the life story of this remarkable man, who was still climbing mountains at the age of 91 ...

This enchanting book ... tells the untold story of an exceptional man and his even more exceptional plants.    – Dr John Rourke, former President of the Botanical Society of South Africa and former Director, Compton Herbarium, Kirstenbosch

“T.P. Stokoe, the man, the myths, the flowers” is a celebration of an extraordinary life. Thomas Pearson Stokoe lived from 1868 to 1959. An almost insupposeable man, he climbed mountains until the age of 91 and discovered nearly 150 plants unknown to science. Nearly forty prominent Cape biologists have contributed their expertise and enthusiasm to enrich this tale of TP Stokoe and his passion for flowers.

 I was riveted and couldn't put it down. Congratulations on a beautifully produced, delightfully written, inspirational and richly informative book ... your writing style and your ability to make botany exciting have all combined to make this a book to treasure. – Tim Attwell  

Biologists, in alphabetical order, of the calibre of William Bond, Els Dorrat-Haaksma, Nigel Forshaw, Peter Goldblatt, David Gwynne-Evans, Nick Helme, Fred Kruger, Peter Linder, John Manning, Quinton Martins, Eugene Moll, Ted Oliver, Anton Pauw, Tony Rebelo, John Rourke, Jasper Slingsby, Dee Snijman, Terry Trinder-Smith, Rentia Tukker, Ross Turner, Jan Vlok and the late Roelf Attwell and Hugh Taylor — some provided written comments, some research documents, comments and help, and many helped with photographs.

Nearly two years of painstaking research went into uncovering the full story of TP, from exhaustive searches through herbaria records to find all his floral discoveries, to long hours in libraries and archives to uncover the story of his life. Much of the content of the book has never been published before; here in 160 pages in full colour are rarities that have never been illustrated in books before, plus a rich selection from the humorous writings and anecdotes of TP himself ...

TECHNICALS

• Page size 210 x 240 [landscape format];
• 156 pages, full colour throughout; stitch bound with semi-hard cover with two gatefolds
• Contents include: biography of TP Stokoe; plant collections of T P Stokoe [fully illustrated]; and the full story of the history and rediscovery of Stokoe’s “Golden Protea” (Mimetes stokoei), with foreword by Dr J P Rourke, former President of the Botanical Society of South Africa 
• Texts and illustrations by Amida Johns and Peter Slingsby 
• Edited by Lynne Stokoe and Annabel Slingsby 
• Layout and setting by Maggie and Peter Slingsby