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The books in this section are ordered by publication date with the most recent at the top.

A list of books with an introduction, foreword or some other contribution by Richard Mabey may be added at a later date.

Wood

William Hall

Essay: Richard Mabey

2017

"With 170 structures from the last 1,000 years, Wood features projects from some of the world's most celebrated architects. Renzo Piano's otherworldly New Caledonian Cultural Centre is found alongside projects from Tadao Ando and Peter Zumthor. Even the work of Le Corbusier, an architect best known for his work in concrete, is shown - his humble Mediterranean log cabin, Le Cabanon, was his last home. Arranged to promote comparison and discussion, the selected projects take the reader on a global tour of inspiring and intriguing structures: a Vietnamese village hall sits beside a state-of-the-art Belgian laboratory, an Italian anatomical theatre alongside a luxurious Canadian sauna and an onion-domed Russian church next to a fortified Japanese castle. Illustrated with extraordinary photographs, each project includes an extended caption providing an insightful commentary on the building. An essay by the bestselling author and naturalist Richard Mabey explores the close relationship between trees and architecture."

The Cabaret of Plants: Botany and the Imagination

Richard Mabey

2015

"In Richard Mabey's characteristically lyrical and informative tone, The Cabaret of Plants explores plant species which have challenged our imaginations, awoken that clichéd but real human emotion of wonder, and upturned our ideas about history, science, beauty and belief. Picked from every walk of life, they encompass crops, weeds, medicines, religious gathering-places and a water lily named after a queen. Beginning with pagan cults and creation myths, the cultural significance of plants has burst upwards, sprouting into forms as diverse as the panacea (the cure-all plant ginseng, a single root of which can cost up to $10,000), Newton's apple, the African 'vegetable elephant' or boabab, whose swollen trunks store thousands of litres of water - and the mystical, night-flowering Amazonian cactus, the moonflower. From Ice Age artists, to the Romantic poets, via colonialism and the nineteenth century botanical mania of empire, Mabey concludes his magnum opus with the latest revelations of possible 'plant intelligence' in this extraordinary collection of encounters between plants and people."

Dreams of the Good Life: The Life of Flora Thompson and the Creation of Lark Rise to Candleford

Richard Mabey

2014

"While the Lark Rise to Candleford trilogy, Flora Thompson's much-loved portrait of life in the English countryside, has inspired a hit television series, relatively little is known about the author herself. In this highly original book, bestselling biographer and nature writer Richard Mabey sympathetically retraces her life and her transformation from a post-office clerk who left school at fourteen to a sophisticated professional writer. Revealing how a formidable imagination can arise from the humblest of beginnings, Dreams of the Good Life paints a poignant, unforgettable portrait of a working-class woman writer's struggle for creative expression."

The Ash and The Beech: The Drama of Woodland Change

Richard Mabey

2013

A new edition of the classic Beechcombings, with a new introduction to take in the challenge of ash die-back and how we should respond.

"In this now classic book, Richard Mabey looks at how, for more than a thousand years, we have appropriated and humanised trees, turning them into arboreal pets, status symbols, expressions of fashionable beauty - anything rather than allow them lives of their own. And in the poetic and provocative style he has made his signature, Mabey argues that respecting trees' independence and ancient powers of survival may be the wisest response to their current crises."

Turned Out Nice Again: On Living With the Weather

Richard Mabey

2013

"In his trademark style, Richard Mabey weaves together science, art and memoirs (including his own) to show the weather's impact on our culture and national psyche. He rambles through the myths of Golden Summers and our persistent state of denial about the winter; the Impressionists' love affair with London smog, seasonal affective disorder (SAD - do we all get it?) and the mysteries of storm migraines; herrings falling like hail in Norfolk and Saharan dust reddening south-coast cars; moonbows, dog-suns, fog-mirages and Constable's clouds; the fact that English has more words for rain than Inuit has for snow; the curious eccentricity of country clothing and the mathematical behaviour of umbrella sales."

A Good Parcel of English Soil: The Metropolitan Line

Richard Mabey

2013

"Richard Mabey, one of Britain's leading nature writers, looks in A Good Parcel of English Soil at the relationship between city and country, and how this brings out the power of nature - part of a series of twelve books tied to the twelve lines of the London Underground, as Tfl celebrates 150 years of the Tube with Penguin."

The Perfumier and the Stinkhorn

Richard Mabey

2011

"In these elegant, short essays, revered nature writer Richard Mabey attempts to marry a Romantic's view of the natural world with that of the meticulous observations of the scientist. By Romanticism, he refers to the view that nature isn't a machine to be dissected, but a community of which we, the observers, are inextricably part. And that our feelings about that community are a perfectly proper subject for reflection, because they shape our relationship with it. Scientists eshew such a subjective response, wanting to witness the natural world exactly, whatever feelings subsequently follow. Our feelings are an extension of our senses - sight, taste, smell, touch and sound - and here, in a sextet of inspiring meditations, Mabey explores each sensory response in what it means to interact with nature. From birdsong to poetry, from Petri-dish to microscope, this is a joyful union of meandering thoughts and intimate memories."

Weeds

Richard Mabey

2010

"Weeds survive, entombed in the soil, for centuries. They are as persistent and pervasive as myths. They ride out ice ages, agricultural revolutions, global wars. They mark the tracks of human movements across continents as indelibly as languages. Yet to humans they are the scourge of our gardens, saboteurs of our best-laid plans. They rob crops of nourishment, ruin the exquisite visions of garden designers, and make unpleasant and impenetrable hiding places for urban ne'er-do-wells. Weeds can be destructive and troubling, but they can also be beautiful, and they are the prototypes of most of the plants that keep us alive. Humans have grappled with their paradox for thousands of years, and with characteristic verve and lyricism, Richard Mabey uncovers some of the deeper cultural reasons behind the attitudes we have to such a huge section of the plant world."

The Barley Bird: Notes on a Suffolk Nightingale

Richard Mabey

Images: Derrick Greaves

2010

"Richard Mabey, described as "Britain's greatest living nature writer", explores the nightingale's links with Suffolk culture and landscape, and traces the bird's course through myth, lore and tradition. He plumbs his subject for its fascinating literary and historical references, and opens the reader's ears to the bird itself and its extraordinary song, a hymn to survival. New images by Derrick Greaves accompany the text."

Bugs Britannica

Peter Marren and Richard Mabey

2010

"Bugs Britannica is a unique natural history of British insects and other invertebrates. It is not a biological guide but a cultural one, seen through the eyes of writers, poets, musicians, artists and naturalists, as well as ordinary men and women, who have been fascinated and inspired by our ‘small life'. Hence, like its distinguished predecessors, Flora Britannica and Birds Britannica, Bugs Britannica is concerned as much with us as with wildlife. It is a record of what we think about our bugs and how they have influenced and continue to influence our lives. Our guide covers the whole range of British invertebrates, from the simplest forms of animal life such as protozoa and sponges to the vast multitude of insects, spiders and shell life. It ranges from the mountaintops through woods, farms and fields to the soil and fresh water, right down to the shoreline and the shallow sea, and it also includes our houses and gardens. The only condition for selection is that the ‘bug' must be familiar or in some other way important. This is a record of all the bugs for which we, as a society, feel admiration, concern, affection, fear, astonishment or wonder. In other words, if a species moves us in some way, it is here. If it is known only to a small group of specialists, look elsewhere. Bugs Britannica is a modern ‘people's fauna', a portrait in encyclopedic detail of the teeming world of invertebrates seen through human eyes: an alternative natural history for a new age. Bugs Britannica completes a trilogy of books about the cultural dimensions of our wildlife. Like its predecessors, it includes observations, anecdotes and experiences from the public and from members of natural history and conservation societies. Unlike them, it cannot hope to include nearly every one of the approximately 40,000 British invertebrates. It does, however, include all those with a significant cultural profile, whether through folk-names, superstitions and beliefs (true or not), a social or domestic use, or a notable place in British art and literature. It includes bugs we seek to attract and those we fight expensive battles to remove. Above all, we have tried to bring our subjects to life in all their beautiful and bizarre glory. We hope the result will interest, amuse, delight and, perhaps occasionally, horrify the reader. No book in English has ever dealt so comprehensively with the manifold links between the British and the small beings at our doorsteps. Bugs Britannica is a testimony to why small life matters and about how it enriches our lives. A companion volume to Flora Britannica and Birds Britannica Covers more than 1000 species with nearly 400 colour images."

A Brush With Nature: 25 years of personal reflections on nature

Richard Mabey

2010

"Described as ‘Britain's greatest living nature writer', Richard Mabey has revealed his passion for the natural world in eloquent stories for BBC Wildlife Magazine. This definitive collection brings together his favourite pieces and presents a fascinating and inspiring view of the changing natural landscape in which we live. With marvellously observed detail, Mabey recalls following a barn owl he'd encountered while walking near his home in Norfolk, and talks of studying lichens through the lens of a Victorian microscope. Alongside tales of ants and hornets, swifts and pink-footed geese, we read about the hustle and bustle of his village in the heat of the summer, and his musings on the significance of Constable's The Cornfield. Mabey's fascination lies in the way that we live and work within the nature that surrounds us. Peppered throughout with references to the heritage of nature writing, and great writers from Richard Jefferies and John Clare to Roger Deakin and Robert MacFarlane, A Brush With Nature is part memoir, part nature journal, part social history, giving us a unique insight into a nature lover's reflections over a quarter of a century."

Wild Cooking: Recipes, Tips and Other Improvisations in the Kitchen: Making Do in the Kitchen

Richard Mabey

2009

Paperback edition of The Full Cassoulet

"Richard Mabey's sparky, offbeat book is about canny and inventive making-do, or ‘busking in the kitchen'. Whether creating a cassoulet which uses English ingredients, making bread from chestnuts or slow-cooking a Peking duck in front of an ancient fan heater, he encourages us to be daring and imaginative in our cooking and our approach to food. Although it contains wonderful, mouth-watering recipes like broad bean hummus, pumpkin soup and fillet-steak hearts this is more than a recipe book – it is a guide to a whole new way of thinking that embraces scrumping, celebrates picnics, and revels in saving energy wherever it can, whether that's by one-pot feasts or cooling on car radiators. After all, if you care about food ‘life's too short not to stuff a mushroom'."

The Full English Cassoulet: Making Do And Other Improvisations In The Kitchen

Richard Mabey

2008

"Richard Mabey began experimenting with cooking as soon as he was big enough to clamber to the cupboard where the powdered chocolate was kept. At scout camp he learned how to cook a Sussex Pond Pudding in a billy-can, and thirty years ago he permanently broadened the nation's palate with his guide to edible wild plants, Food For Free. His new book is a joyous exploration of local ingredients, broadening your horizons by travelling, vernacular heritage, and making use of everything except, as the saying goes, 'the pig's squeal'. It includes: *Collecting Corsican chestnut receipes and American mushroom ideas, and meditating on what a forest-food culture would have been like; * Cooking eggs in nothing but the sun; * Making bread the prehistoric way - with old beer; * Exploring the outer limits of apple cusine (i.e. the outer limit is making leather out of apples); * 'Cooking against the grain' - if we didn't have access to wheat, what could we make with nuts? * How to deal with gluts - those autumn mountains of beans and courgettes; * Making-do the wartime way - canny tricks his mother taught him; re-introducing his father's passion for offals."

Beechcombings. The Narratives of Trees

Richard Mabey

2007

"Beech trees reached Britain about 8,000 years ago, and they were workhorses, not ornaments - fuel for Rome's glassworks; firewood for London; oars for the ships of Venice; raw material for furniture, cut and turned by 'bodgers' who lived like nomads among the trees in huts made of beechwood shavings. Mabey covers Europe as well as Britain, and autobiography as well as history and natural history. His beeches are characterful - 'hectic, gale-sculpted, gnomic' - and he writes about the bluebells, orchids, fungi, deer and badgers associated with them, as well as the narratives we tell about trees and the images we make of them. Many other kinds of tree are featured, and the portraits and celebrations of the beech always point to the larger story. More than all this, Beechcombings is a personal investigation of the ambivalent, engimatic relationship that humans have with trees."

The Frampton Flora

Richard Mabey

Quercus

2007

"The Frampton Flora documents a beautiful collection of Victorian botanical paintings discovered in the attic of Frampton Court in Gloucestershire over a century after they were created. First published over twenty years ago, this revised, redesigned and updated edition of a classic bestseller includes new paintings that have come to light since the original discovery. Between 1828 and 1851 sisters Elizabeth, Charlotte, Catherine and Mary Anne Clifford and their aunts Charlotte Annne, Catherine Elizabeth and Rosamond accumulated a portfolio of over 300 exquisite watercolours of the wild flowers of Frampton and the surrounding area. The paintings are bold, exactly observed, and beautifully and skilfully executed. Although many of the flowers were sketched in the field, the watercolours were perfected at home and captioned in ink with the plant's Linnaean family as well as their common names. Richard Mabey describes not only the paintings and the family, but relates their work to the rich flora of the woodlands, grasslands, wetlands, gardens and fields of England in the mid-nineteenth century."

Fencing Paradise : Exploring the Gardens of Eden

Richard Mabey

2005

Paperback edition in 2006 with the title
Fencing Paradise: The Uses And Abuses Of Plants

"From the beginning human beings have made use of plants - to provide food, to build shelters, to trade, or to tell stories about ourselves in which plants have only a minor role. Perhaps enough is enough? Are we starting to believe that the domestication of plants - the 'fencing of paradise' - is a solution for the world's ills? Do we imagine that a tamed version of nature could be a substitute for the vanishing wild places of the planet?

Richard Mabey sets out to explore our landscape not as a 'sever scientist' but as an 'interpreter' or 'messenger', seeing nature on its own terms, rather than as a means to some human end. Mischievously snaffling seeds at the Eden Project and travelling from the Mediterranean to the Tropics to explore subjects as diverse as the French lavender industry, Victorian orchid cults or sugar production, while picking over buzzwords such as 'renewables' and 'sustainable', this is Richard Mabey on particularly sparkling and provocative form.

There is plenty here to fascinate. Mabey's writing is richly evocative, his breadth of reference enormous."

Nature Cure

Richard Mabey

2005

"In the last year of the old millennium, Richard Mabey, Britain's foremost nature writer, fell into a severe depression. For two years,he did little more than lie in bed with his face to a wall. He could neither work nor play. His money ran out. Worst of all, the natural world - which since childhood had been a source of joy and inspiration for him - became meaningless. Then, cared for by friends, he gradually recovered. He fell in love. Out of necessity as much as choice he moved to East Anglia. And he started to write again. This remarkable book is an account of that first year of a new life. It is the story of a rite of passage -from sickness into health, from retreat into curiosity. It is about the adventure of learning to fit again. Having left the cosseting woods of the Chiltern hills for the open flatlands of Norfolk, Richard Mabey finds exhilaration in discovering a whole new landscape. He writes about the changing seasons in prose so exact andso beautiful that every sentence delights the reader. But Nature Cure is also alarger story. In finding his own niche, Richard Mabey gained insights into our human place in nature. He reflects on the inherent value of all creatures; on our presumptions that mankind is superior; on the ancient morality of commonland; and above all on the role of the imagination -not as a barrier between us and nature, but as our best way back to it. This was his 'nature cure': not a passive submission to nature, but anactive, sensual re-engagement. Structured as intricately as a novel, a joy to read, truthful, exquisite and questing, Nature Cure is a book of hope, not just for individuals, but for our species."

Selected Writings: 1947-1999

Richard Mabey

1999

The 2000 paperback edition had the title Country Matters: Selected Writings 1947-1999

"Selected Writings includes the best of Richard Mabey's important and wide-ranging journalism, from nature diaries to writings on travel and environmental art, to full-blown investigations of forestry, farming and developmental scandals. We meet flamingos in the Camargue flamenco singers in Extremaduran cork-oak forest; the sculptor David Nash's 'Wooden Boulder' and the biologist James Lovelock's theory of Gaia; the grim environmental imagery of the Gulf War and the inspiration of the recovery of our woodland from the devastation of the great storms of 1987 and 1990: an archetypal village in Middle England, and the teeming cosmopolitan wildlife of London's East End. Through the many disparate pieces run the common threads of creativity and autonomy of nature, the importance of the sense of locality, and our thraldom to the seasons. And as the national debate about the future of the countryside moves ever more centre stage, so the themes which have been explored in Mabey's writings take on a new relevance."

Flora Britannica: Concise Edition

Richard Mabey

1998

"Illustrated throughout in colour, this is a concise edition of Flora Britannica. It is organised thematically, rather than botanically and includes the personal anecdotes, observations and regional knowledge of people from all over Britain."

Flora Britannica: Book of Wild Herbs

Richard Mabey

1998

"Derived from the author's "Flora Britannica", this book takes a broad definition of herbs and includes 100 wild plants of England, Scotland and Wales. As well as describing them, the author gives an account of the role of wild herbs in social life, arts, custom and landscape."

Flora Britannica: Book of Spring Flowers

Richard Mabey

1998

"Derived from the author's "Flora Britannica", this book focuses on over 50 wild spring flowers of England, Scotland and Wales. As well as describing them, the author gives an account of the role of spring flowers in social life, arts, custom and landscape."

The Book of Nightingales

Richard Mabey

1997

"Despite being the most celebrated songbird in the western world, the real nightingale is a drab-coloured migrant. Mabey examines why humans have so often fallen under its spell; how it came to inspire the Romantic poets; and what this tells us about our own responses to place and season."

Flora Britannica

Richard Mabey

1996

"This landmark guide offers a comprehensive survey of the native and naturalized wild plants of England, Scotland, and Wales. Useful and delightful, it covers 1,000 species, including trees and ferns. More than a definitive work of natural history, however, it is also a virtual encyclopedia of living folklore, recording the role of wild plants in social life, the arts, customs, and landscapes. The information has been supplied by the people themselves, creating a unique national record of the popular culture, domestic uses, and social meanings of Britain's wild plants. Splendidly written by naturalist Richard Mabey and illustrated with 500 fine color photographs, Flora Britannica is an elegant testimony to the continuing relationship between nature and man."

The Yorkshire Dales

Photographs: Graham Nobles

Essay: Richard Mabey

Colin Baxter Photography

1996

"A collection of photographs of the Yorkshire Dales by Graham Npbles, which capture the drama of the landscape from the broad, open dales dotted with farms to the bleak uplands and isolated high hills, with an essay on the distinctive features of the Dales by Richard Mabey."

The Oxford Book of Nature Writing

Richard Mabey

Hardback: 1995

Paperback: 1997

"In this superb anthology, with its rich variety of sources from Europe and America, Richard Mabey charts the development of nature writing from the fabulous imaginings of the medieval bestiaries to the scientific accuracy and philosophical concerns of present day naturalists. It is both an inspirational and essential read, illustrating the diversity and beauty that has existed around us since ancient times. This book is intended for anyone interested in natural history, in nature writing, animals and plants, ecologists, conservationists."

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Landlocked

Richard Mabey

1994

"In this collection, Mabey challenges the conventional heritage notion and trails the idea of wilderness through quirky observations on natural history, commentaries on environmental art, and the continuing debate about the quality of our landscapes."

The Wildwood

Gareth Lovett Jones and Richard Mabey

Aurum Press

1993

"An exploration of Britain's ancient woodlands in which the author describes fifteen sites and includes a passionate plea for preservation. A stunning photographic book with a serious ecological message."

Whistling in the Dark: In Pursuit of the Nightingale

Richard Mabey

1993

"For a thousand years the nightingale has been the most celebrated song-bird in the western world. In French troubadour lyrics, Romantic poems, even wartime propaganda, its exquisite oratorical song has symbolized both the renewing powers of nature and human love. Yet the real nightingale is a drab-coloured migrant, whose song is reckoned by scientists to be no different from any other bird's - a proclamation of territorial rights. So why have humans always fallen under its spell? This book looks at the natural history as well as the literary history of the nightingale."

A Nature Journal

Richard Mabey

1991

"This journal portrays a country year, not as a calendar of flowerings and perennial rituals, but as an artist's impression, recording private special occasions and reflections prompted by a favourite scene or unexpected sight. Culled from two decades of diary notes, these entries evoke the natural year from the Scottish Highlands to the Cornish Cliffs: a red kite stops the mid-May traffic in Dyfed, July in Norfolk reveals Breckland's history and December brings a mistletoe auction in Worcestershire."

A Victorian Flora: The Flower Paintings of Caroline May

Introduction & notes: Richard Mabey

1991

Paintings selected from the unpublished flora of Caroline May with an introduction and biographical notes."

Home Country

Richard Mabey

1990

"From childhood dens in the grounds of a derelict mansion, through explorations of the wild, bird-haunted fringes of the north Norfolk coast, and the final rediscovery of his roots in the Chiltern woodlands, this book traces the growth of Richard Mabey's view of nature. Yet the book is more than a series of autobiographical episodes, for it presents a critique of our traditional attitudes towards nature and the coutryside. This reaches a dramatic climax with his account of the environmental crises of the 1980s: Scottish afforestation, the seal plague and the great hurricane of 1987. Richard Mabey also wrote The Frampton Flora , Gilbert White: A Biography , The Flowering of Kew and Natural History of Selbourne."

The Flowers Of May: The Unpublished Flora of Caroline May

Introduction & notes: Richard Mabey

1990

Paintings selected from the unpublished flora of Caroline May with an introduction and biographical notes."

The Complete New Herbal

Consultant Editor: Richard Mabey

Elm Tree Books

1989

"In contrast to a number of herbal guides, this book covers a range of herbal usage from culinary arts, healing, beauty or for general use around the home. It aims to help those who wish to know more about the herbs currently available, those wishing to grow their own herbs or anyone interested in aspects of herbal medicine. The Complete New Herbal includes step-by-step instructions on cultivating, drying, storing and using herbs."

The Gardener's Labyrinth: The First English Gardening Book

Thomas Hill

Editor: Richard Mabey

1988

"The Gardener's Labyrinth was the first popular gardening book to appear in the English language in 1577. Hill broke away from the pattern of formal, purely descriptive studies and pioneered a genre that has remained firmly in the best-seller lists ever since - a practical gardening handbook. Thomas Hill blends advice with superstition, representing the essence of the Elizabethan age, when new ideas were challenging the old world of magic and mystery. His detailed account of types of soils, the making of hedges, the cultivation, quantities, and uses of more than fifty herbs, vegetables and flowers is interspersed with complex zodiacal schemes for planting and harvesting, and extraordinary suggestions for deterring pests and controlling the weather. The book includes instruction for many gardening activities - laying out paths and constructing arbours, drying herbs and flowers and storing roots, transplanting seedlings, weeding and watering. Richard Mabey has written an introduction and compiles a glossary in which he catalogues all the plants mentioned by Hill and translates any unfamiliar, vernacular or obsolete terms."

The New Age Herbalist

Consultant Editor: Richard Mabey

Simon & Schuster

1988

"Identifies hundreds of herbs, explains their main uses, and tells how to cultivate a herb garden."

The Flowering of Kew: 350 Years of Flower Paintings from the Royal Botanic Gardens

Richard Mabey

1988

Reissued in 1989 with the slightly altered title The Flowers Of Kew: 350 Years of Flower Paintings from the Royal Botanic Gardens

"Sumptuously illustrated with the finest pictures from this unique archive...highlights the story behind the outstanding collection - the tales of the resident artists, explorer painters, inspired amateurs, and official illustrators who have made Kew Gardens renowned throughout the world."

Gilbert White

Richard Mabey

1986

"When the pioneering naturalist Gilbert White (1720-93) wrote The Natural History of Selborne (1789), he created one of the greatest and most influential natural history works of all time, his detailed observations about birds and animals providing the cornerstones of modern ecology. In this award-winning biography, Richard Mabey tells the wonderful story of the clergyman - England's first ecologist - whose inspirational naturalist's handbook has become an English classic."

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The Frampton Flora

Richard Mabey

1985

"The Frampton Flora documents a beautiful collection of Victorian botanical paintings discovered in the attic of Frampton Court in Gloucestershire over a century after they were created. .... Richard Mabey describes not only the paintings and the family, but relates their work to the rich flora of the woodlands, grasslands, wetlands, gardens and fields of England in the mid-nineteenth century."

Second Nature

Editor: Richard Mabey

1988

"This collection has brought together essays, poems and visual art by 42 writers and artists with the aim of showing that our relationship with the land and with the natural world is a vital part of our imaginative, cultural and social life. Authors such as John Fowles, Fay Weldon and Richard Mabey adopt perspectives as diverse as the proliferation of agribusiness, the nuclear arms question, personal relationships with places and "green" politics. These essays are acompanied by a stirring visual testimony of paintings, sculpture and photographs from artists, among whom are Elizabeth Frink, David Hockney and Henry Moore. Though their treatments differ, these writers and artists find common ground in the idea of caring for plants, animals and landscapes in the local environment."

Nature In Your Basket

Richard Mabey

1984

In a Green Shade: Essays on Landscape, 1970-83

Richard Mabey

1983

"text."

Oak & Company

Richard Mabey

Illustrations: Clare Roberts

1983

"Follows an oak tree and its company of plants and animals from its beginning as an acorn to its death 282 years later."

Back To The Roots: The Essential Plantcraft Handbook

Richard Mabey & Francesca Greenoak

Arena

1983

Landscape with Figures: An anthology of Richard Jefferies's Prose

Richard Jeffries

Editor: Richard Mabey

1983

The Common Ground: A Place For Nature In Britain's Future

Richard Mabey

1980

Discusses practical and political issues involved in the conservation of Britain's countryside.

The Flowering of Britain

Richard Mabey & Tony Evans

1980

"text."

In Search Of Food: Traditional Eating & Drinking In Britain

David Mabey

The Book Service

1978

Plants with a Purpose: A Guide To Everyday Uses Of Wild Plants

Richard Mabey

1977

Subsequently reissued with the title Plantcraft

Street Flowers

Richard Mabey

Kestrel Books

1976

Roadside Wildlife Book

Richard Mabey

1974

"Roads are at the very heart of our experience of the countryside and here is an enterprising and delightfully presented and illustrated book that will enrich that experience for young and old alike. It is a guide not just to some of the fascinating natural history you may encounter on the road (anything from migrating toads to gale-blown sea-ducks), but an introduction to how wildlife adapts to the influence of its dominant mammal, travelling man: the colourful weeds brought over as seeds in the crops of Roman soldiers, the herbs planted near waysides to serve the needs of early travellers. Richard Mabey shows how versatile living creatures are in making use of the whole range of roadside habitats: birds use roadside furniture for perches and scavenge off the tarmac, the famous motorway kestrels hunt for voles in the broad grass verges, while a ditch can be as good as a pond for water plants and insects, and a central reservation provides a home for grassland fungi."

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The Pollution Handbook: The ACE/Sunday Times Clean Air and Water Surveys

Richard Mabey

1974

Food The Impact Of Food Technology On Everyday Life

Richard Mabey

Penguin Education

1974

The Unofficial Countryside

Richard Mabey

1973

"During the early 1970s Richard Mabey set about mapping his unofficial countryside. He walked crumbling city docks and World War II bomb-sites, he navigated inner city canals and car parks, he returned again and again to sewage works, reservoirs, gravel pits, rubbish tips. What he discovered runs deeper than a natural history of our suburbs and cities. The Unofficial Countryside prescribes another way of seeing, another way of experiencing nature in our daily lives.

A bank of wildflowers glimpsed from the window of a commuter train. Kestrels shimmering above waste grounds and town parks. Enchanter's nightshade growing through pavement cracks. Fox cubs playing on the scrubby fringe of a motorway embankment. It is easy to forget the abundance of wildlife thriving so near our routines and our homes, yet there is scarcely a nook in our urban landscapes incapable of supporting life. It is an inspiration to find this abundance, to discover how plants, birds, mammals and insects flourish against the odds in the most obscure and surprising places."

Food for Free

Richard Mabey

Collins

1972

Updated ed: 2007

"A complete guide to help you safely identify edible species that grow around us, together with detailed artworks, field identification notes and recipes. First published in 1972, this updated edition of Richard Mabey's cult bestseller has been revised to reflect the ever-increasing eco-awareness and popular interest in finding different, and more natural, sources of food. Each of the 240 types of fruit, nut, flower, seaweed, fungi and shellfish featured has its own identification field notes and artwork. Understand and learn about the fascinating edible species that you may come across and, with the help of the numerous recipes also included, find out the best way to pick and enjoy them. Beautifully illustrated and written, 'Food for Free' will inspire you to take more notice of the natural harvest that surrounds us, learn how to make use of it and conserve it for future generations."

Children In Primary School

Richard Mabey

1972

The Pop Process

Richard Mabey

1969

Behind The Scenes

Richard Mabey

Penguin Education

1968

"To sit back and take a cool look at the pop scene is to realize two over-riding facts: that it touches upon almost every area of our lives, and contains some very curious phenomena. How, one might well ask have hairstyles and hysterical fans become tangled up with music? Behind The Scenes examines what the pop scene is all about, what its value is for young people, and some of its possible effects."

Class: A Symposium

Editor: Richard Mabey

1967