Grain merchant Philippe Victoire de Vilmorin and Pierre Andrieux, seed collector and botanist to King Louis XV, together formed Vilmorin-Andrieux & Cie and produced the first seed catalogue for farmers and academics. They became hugely respected botanical experts and a series of publications followed, culminating in arguably the company's most famous work, "Les Plantes potag res" ("The Vegetable Garden"), published for the first time in 1850. For...