John Claudius Loudon was a Scottish botanist and agriculturalist. Upon graduating from the University of Edinburgh, Loudon began working on farms in Berwickshire where he witnessed how scientific and agricultural improvements were transforming Scottish farming. In 1808, he was hired by the landowner George Frederick Stratton to develop his estate at Tew Park, Oxfordshire into a farm.

The knowledge gained from these experiences let Loudon to publish several guides to agriculture. This work was the most time consuming of his endeavours. It was printed in 63 monthly parts between 1835 and 1838, amounting to eight volumes. It provides an extensive natural history of the fruit trees, timber trees and shrubs grown in Britain. Each of the trees illustrated in the volumes were taken from examples growing at Syon House or at the arboretum of George Loddiges. 
Perhaps due to its scope (Loudon published three versions: hand-coloured, partly coloured and uncoloured) and its exhaustive descriptions, the work sold poorly, leaving Loudon on the verge of bankruptcy. This second edition was published in 1844.