Monday-Friday
12 - 4 p.m.
480-481-8133
For answers to your questions about desert plant care, call: 480-941-1225
Monday-Friday 10 -11:30 a.m.
The Desert Botanical Garden Library is a collection of botanical books and periodicals that supports the educational and research activities of Desert Botanical Garden staff, volunteers, members and visitors.
The strengths of this library are in references on floristic, ecological and horticultural works that relate to the deserts of the world. The greatest concentration of material deals with succulents and plant families growing in the southwestern deserts of North America as well as in northern and central Mexico. Books about desert plants range from detailed monographs and regional floras to general references on cultivation and landscaping. The Library also includes materials on botanical illustration, plant taxonomy and nomenclature, edible and useful plants, rare and endangered plants, and desert ecology and conservation.
The collection numbers more than 6,300 books and 300 periodicals, of which 50 are current subscriptions.
The Library houses Max C. Richter’s outstanding collection of rare books and botanical art prints. These rare botanical books and prints, dating from the 16th century through the 19th century, represent many fine examples of early bookbinding and printmaking. The collection includes John Gerard’s Herbal, or General Historie of Plants (1597) and Richard Bradley’s History of Succulent Plants (1716). These special resources are maintained in a climate-controlled archive and are available for use by appointment.
A selection of some of the Library's botanical prints is now available for purchase at the Garden Shop and online. To view available prints go to www.lookclickprint.com.
Also included in the Becker Library Archives are the research collections of botanists Lyman Benson and Edward Anderson as well as the historic papers and photographs of the Desert Botanical Garden.
- The Library is open for use by Garden visitors upon payment of admission to the Garden grounds. Garden members may use the library at no charge.
- The collection is available for in-house research only; books do not circulate.
- Photocopying services are available on a limited basis at a cost of 10 cents per page.
- Group visitors are limited to 15 persons at a time and must make prior arrangements with the Garden Librarian.
- Library users are requested to refrain from eating or drinking while using library resources.
The DBG Library has grown over the years with the gifts of several private libraries, most notably the collection of Max Clemens Richter, a book dealer and collector from Santa Barbara, California. In 1960, he offered his library to the Desert Botanical Garden and in 1970 the Richter Memorial Library was dedicated.
Along with many important botany books, Mr. Richter’s donation contained the collection of Scott Haselton, early editor of the Cactus and Succulent Journal of America. These materials formed a valuable foundation for the collection in addition to the donations of Garden founder Gertrude Webster, and Former DBG directors W. Taylor Marshall and W.Hubert Earle.
In 2002, the library was relocated to its spacious new location in the Nina Mason Pulliam Desert Research and Horticulture Center.
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