Pteridomania was a Victorian craze for collecting and cultivating ferns. Inspired by books such this, people travelled to the country to collect different species of fern that they brought home to add to herbaria (books of pressed plants) or to grow in specially made 'fern houses', or terrariums. So popular was the plant that furniture, wallpaper and textiles with prominent fern motifs were produced.

This book, by Francis George Heath, gives its readers advice on how to grow their own ferns in order to bring some of the countryside to dark and smoky industrial towns.

The book argued that as urbanisation increased, there was less green space for people to enjoy and as they were more and more preoccupied with working life, the more they 'wearily pine for fresh country breezes and for the green’. To alleviate this, Heath told his readers that since ferns could grow where other plants did not 'what exquisite grace would be shed over every room in a house, if every available space were occupied by the feathery fronds of  these beautiful plants!'. He hoped that in doing so, even the most humble of homes could become a "Fern Paradise".

The craze for ferns inspired so many people to scour the countryside for the plants that many fragile ecosystems were damaged or destroyed by avid fern hunters and several species of fern were brought close to extinction.

Heath was also a strong advocate for open spaces for the enjoyment of all people and during his life ensured the protection and preservation of Epping Forest in Essex and Burnham Beeches in Buckinghamshire.