Research and publications

Backer’s “Verklarend woordenboek” — The publishing company Contact, Amsterdam, is planning to publish a facsimile edition of this work long out of print and only with great difficulty found in antiquarian’s shops. With its wealth of data, bio- and bibliographical notes, and occasional wry humour it is a goldmine of information. With c. 22,500 lemmas there is no other work comparable in size and quality. Because most entrees deal with names of plants found in the Netherlands and former Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) it is in Dutch, and because of the date of publication in an old spelling. The late Dr. H.C.D. de Wit (WAG) intended to produce an emended, English version, for which Backer’s files are now in WAG. Note the web address to access the geological reconstruction series of SE Asia (for the past 50 My). It is downloadable as a powerpoint file, from: http://glsun2.gl.rhbnc.ac.uk/seasia/html/plate_tect.htm