At Bois et Forêts des Tropiques, we had been wanting for some time to pay tribute to an illustrious figure in tropical forestry, André Aubréville (1897-1982). Honour was due to Aubréville as one of the founders of our journal, but also, and especially, we wanted to bring the scientific and technical legacy of this remarkable figure to a much wider readership. This is why our special issue on André Aubréville has been entirely translated into English, and we are delighted that non French-speakers can now read the full content of some of the most important articles published by André Aubréville in Bois et Forêts des Tropiques. The botanist Michel Arbonnier, who specialises in tropical forests, contributed his expert knowledge to update the taxonomic references to the plant species cited by André Aubréville in the various articles. We felt that it would be a better option to provide our readers with current botanical names rather than using early synonyms that are now obsolete and have sometimes even been forgotten. What may come as a surprise to our readers is André Aubréville's prescience as a forester and the visionary quality of his thinking, as reflected in our introductory article summarising the life and work of this remarkable figure in the field of tropical forestry. Above all, we urge our readers, whatever their working language, to revisit the work of André Aubréville, whose articles are available in French in our journal archives at http://bft.cirad.fr/revues/index_fr.php?mots=aubr%E9ville, and now also in English in the pages that follow. (Texte intégral)