Orchidmania the Orchid Iconography of John Day 1862-1887

by Phillip J. Cribb (Introduction)

The 53 illustrated notebooks compiled by John Day between 1863 and 1887 and now deposited in the library of the Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are a wonderful and unique record of a whole range of new orchids which were introduced into Britain during the 19th century.Together, the notebooks depict in exquisite watercolors over 2,800 orchid species, subspecies and varieties. This lavish volume presents in color over 200 species of orchids selected from each of the principal genera, with Day's original annotations. New transcripts written by one of the world's leading orchid growers accompany each watercolor and provide vital information on breeding. In many instances these watercolors are the only record of original species from which contemporary breeds have been hybridized.This book provides a much overdue study of this important resource, and will add greatly to our understanding of orchids and their hybridization.

384 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Wetdryvac Wetdryvac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite lovely.