William Hanbury was a mid-eighteenth-century clergyman and gardener. Following his ordination as a deacon in 1748 he took up the rectory of Church Langton in Leicestershire and set about planting a garden on church land with the aim to sell young plants and saplings to raise money for charity. It was a noble effort, but Hanbury had little charm and failed to make friends among the wealthy landowners who viewed with suspicion his attempts to expand the garden into lands that were traditionally set aside as common land after the harvest. Failing to persuade his detractors he instead focused on his nurseries elsewhere in the parish, acquiring seeds and plants from a range of sources. Gradually, his efforts bore fruit, and, by 1758, he was earning enough money to persuade his supporters among the local gentry to establish a fund while Hanbury set about writing books on planting.

This encyclopaedia, published in 1770-1, was the culmination of Hanbury’s endeavours. It was one of the first encyclopaedias on forestry and gardening and made full use of the classification system introduced by Carl Linnaeus.