Originally published during the early part of the twentieth century, the Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature were designed to provide concise introductions to a broad range of topics. They were written by experts for the general reader and combined a comprehensive approach to knowledge with an emphasis on accessibility. A. C. Seward's Links with the Past in the Plant World was first published in 1911 and reprinted in 1921. The purpose of the book was to enquire into the relative antiquity of existing plants and to throw light on evidence of plant life taken from the fossil record.