Insulation for an Empire: Gutta-Percha and the Development of Electrical Measurement in Victorian Britain -- Cocoa, Cadbury and Forced Labour in São Tomé and Príncipe, West Africa -- ‘Beauty, imagination and order’; the Flowers of William and May Morris -- Charles Darwin, Victorian Botany, and Victorian Culture -- Moving Plants in the Victorian Era: Glass, Transplants and the Wardian Case -- Circulation and Civility: Mid-Victorian botany and microscopical method -- Glimpses of the Colonial Collections at the 1862 London Exhibition: The case of the Angolan ‘Objects’ at the Portuguese section -- Developing Botany - Photography During the Victorian Era -- The Victorian Return to Nature and the Simple Life -- Violets and Victorians.

The Victorians: A Botanical Perspective, Volume 1 offers a unique re-evaluation of the Victorian Age and presents a new historiography based on plants. It examines the use of gutta-percha in the development of electrical measurements; provides a detailed history of cocoa and the forced labor in the São Tomé and Príncipe Islands; explores the beauty, imagination, and order of William and May Morris’ flowers; uncovers the world of Charles Darwin and the Victorian Botany Culture; highlights the crucial role of the Wardian Case in the global transport of plants; reveals the connection between Mid-Victorian Botany and Microscopy; offers glimpses of the colonial collections at the 1862 London Exhibition; explains how botany was connected with the development of photography; evokes the desire for a return to Nature and a simple life; and, finally, takes us on a journey through the history of violets.