Herbert Boucher Dobbie (13 February 1852–8 August 1940)[1] was a New Zealand engineering draughtsman, botanist, stationmaster, orchardist and writer.

In 1875, he emigrated to New Zealand in on the Lutterworth and joined the government railways department in Auckland, working as a fitter.

Dobbie was an engineer by profession and went on to work as a draughtsman, stationmaster and manager in locations around the country.

His mother and two of his sisters, Bertha and Mary, visited on an extended holiday, intending to return to England.

However, Bertha met and married Forster Goring, a Clerk of the Executive Council and a colonial militia who was transferred to Taranaki in 1880.

Dobbie worked for a brief period on railways in Africa and eventually returned to Auckland where he built 'Ruatoria', a house which is now the site of St Cuthberts, at 122 Market Road in Epsom, where he constructed a fernery.

[3] Five versions of the first edition of New Zealand ferns were produced by Herbert Dobbie and Eric Craig in the late nineteenth century.

A fern specimen was placed on chemically treated paper, which was then exposed to light for a set period of time.

The blue books are an important early window into Dobbie's understanding and interpretation of New Zealand fern taxonomy and diversity.

With its fine photographs of fern specimens, hints on collection and cultivation and delightful essays on fern-collecting expeditions it was an entirely different book from that of 1880.

Unfortunately, in his effort to cater to the general reader Dobbie deliberately used popular but inaccurate terminology in his fern descriptions.