Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Maund, Benjamin
MAUND, BENJAMIN (1790–1863), botanical writer, was born in 1790, and for many years carried on the combined business of a chemist, bookseller, printer, and publisher at Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. He became a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1827, and served for several years on botanical committees of the Worcestershire Natural History Society. About 1852 Maund retired from business, and resided first at Folkestone and afterwards at Sandown, Isle of Wight, where he died, 21 April 1863. A great lover of flowers and gardening, he sought to spread a taste for these subjects by starting a monthly publication, ‘The Botanic Garden’ (4to, London), in 1825. The work consisted of coloured plates, with descriptive letterpress, and with it were issued, in parts also, ‘The Auctarium of the Botanic Garden,’ ‘The Floral Register,’ ‘The Fruitist,’ and ‘A Dictionary of English and Latin Terms used in Botanical Descriptions,’ by J. S. Henslow. The whole work ran to thirteen volumes, and was finished in 1850. It was in part reissued as ‘The Botanic Garden and Fruitist,’ 3 vols. 4to, London, 1851–4, and another edition in 12 vols., edited by J. C. Niven, appeared in 1878. A similar but more extended work, ‘The Botanist … conducted by B. Maund,’ 4to, London, was initiated in 1837, and ended in 1846. In conjunction with W. Holl, Maund edited the first volume of the ‘Naturalist,’ 8vo, London, 1837. The original drawings for ‘The Botanic Garden’ are preserved in the botanical department of the British Museum (natural history).
[Proc. Linn. Soc. Lond. 1863–4, p. xxx; Journ. of Bot. xxvii. 371; Papers and Proc. Worcestershire Natural Hist. Soc. circa 1834; Brit. Mus. Cat.]