Exploding with rich colors and lifelike details, images of exquisite flowers, delicate fruits, and exuberant butterflies fill these pages with startling beauty. Culled from three centuries of drawings from the rare books library of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Featuring works by leading botanical artists, including Maria Sibylla Merian, a revolutionary female entomologist and natural historian of the seventeenth century; E.A. Seguy, whose art nouveau–era work serves as inspiration for many contemporary creative directors and designers; and Dr. Robert John Thornton, a British visionary renowned for his interest in botany.

Eugene Seguy (1890 - 1985) was a French entomologist who specialized in Diptera. He held a chair of entomology at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris from 1956 -1960.