Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, son of Sir William Hooker, the director of the Kew Gardens, was a great botanical explorer. He utilized the artistry of Walter Hood Fitch, who worked for both Hookers, to adapt lithographs to the botanical drawings of Indian artists Hookers' first work "Rhododendrons of Sikkim-Himalaya" came about after his explorations of the Eastern Himalayas According to W. Blunt the book was "an important work, both for the botanist and horticulturalist, since it contains descriptions and plates of many of the best garden Rhododendron species which can be grown in country and an account of their discovery."