author
Richard Bradley
1688–1732
An early English botanist and naturalist, he wrote lively, practical books that helped bring gardening, farming, and plant science to a wider public. His work ranged from succulent plants to husbandry and natural history, showing a restless curiosity about how the living world works.
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About the author
Little is known for certain about his early life, but Richard Bradley lived near London and developed an interest in plants and gardening at a time when amateur naturalists, collectors, and gardeners were helping shape new scientific ideas. Even without a university education, he built a reputation through his writing and through connections with figures in the scientific world.
Bradley became known as a prolific author on botany, horticulture, and natural history. He wrote about succulent plants, planting and gardening, and wider questions about cultivation and the natural world. His books helped connect practical gardening with observation and experiment, which is one reason he is often remembered as an important early writer in ecology as well as botany.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and later became the first professor of botany at Cambridge. Although his career was productive and influential, accounts of his later life suggest that he struggled financially. He died on November 5, 1732, leaving behind a large body of work that continued to be read after his death.