Get it into print! 120 years of scholarly publishing by The New York Botanical Garden

Abstract

The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG), founded 125 years ago in 1891, established a publications program five years later, in 1896, with the launch of The Bulletin of The New York Botanical Garden. Since then, NYBG has published or co-published seven journal titles, 308 books in eight series, and at least 19 stand-alone books. Now, 120 years later, what today is known as NYBG Press has evolved to become one of the largest publishing programs of any independent botanical garden in the world. The Press continues to focus on advancements in knowledge about the classification, utilization, and conservation of plants and fungi through publication of general books, books in series, and quarterly journals, with the recent addition of more titles of general interest, such as field guides and botanical history works. This article reviews the growth and diversification of these publications over the years, and highlights selected, important contributions these books and journals have made to science and society. The article concludes with a brief discussion of plans for the growth and sustainability of NYBG Press as the source of The Best New Books in Botany™.