Largest horticultural library

The world's largest horticultural library is the Royal Horticultural Society's Lindley Library in London, UK, which owns over 50,000 books. The library was established in 1861, and named after the botanist, John Lindley (UK). The record is the largest in terms of volume of books, not the physical size of the building. The library also holds 1,300 journals, 22,000 original illustrations and 1,200 garden guides. The earliest volume of work at the Lindley library is from 1514. The Lindley Library is actually the generic name for all the RHS libraries. Therefore, if the volumes of work from the five other libraries were added to this, it would make the total volume size even more outstanding. The other libraries are the Wisley Laboratory Library, the Wisley Garden Library, the Rosemoor Garden Library, the Hyde Hall Garden Library and the Harlow Carr Garden Library. All the information is in the process of being computerized, a project that will be completed in 2004. An accurate figure of the total number of works will then be able to be given.