An interview with Beekman, translator of the Herbarium Amboinense

E. M. Beekman translated Rumphius's Herbarium Amboinense (Ambonese Herbal) from old Dutch and Latin to English.

This video interview, in five parts, is a must-see for anyone interested in the history of ethnobotany. The book Beekman translated is a must-read for anyone interested in tropical plants. And as the obituary shows (see link below) Beekman was a translator par excellence.

Lynn Margulis interviews the late E. M. "Monty" Beekman (1939-2008) on the life of Georg E. Rumphius (1627-1702), a German-born naturalist and botanist who worked for the Dutch East India Trading Company in what is now eastern Indonesia.

The video was made by James MacAllister, F.L.S.l. See:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

The translated book, with 3,216 pages, was published by Yale University Press in late 2011, and sells for $450 as a set. The university warehouse is already out of stock.

An obituary for Beekman was published by the University ofMassachusetts in 2008