Promotional Information

* A work of obsessive and passionate love* Immensely readable and utterly definitive* The gift book of the year

About the Author

Anna Pavord is the gardening correspondent for the Independent, and the author of The Flowering Years and Gardening Companion. She lives in Dorset, England.

Reviews

"Splendidly extravagant history...an astonishing bouquet of economic and cultural lore, grand historic trends and horticultural exotica." --"Publishers Weekly"
"Visually stunning" --"New Yorker"
"Fascinating and sumptuous...an epic drama, a true tale that spans continents and centuries, shows humankind at its worst and its best, with heroes and villains galore." --"Seattle Post-Intelligencer"
"A wondrous account... remarkable." --"Seattle Weekly"
"Verbally and visually ravishing book." --"House & Garden"
""The Tulip" reads more like an adventure story, written against a backdrop of a 16th-and 17th-century Europe..."--"Desert Sun"

Pavord (The New Kitchen Garden, DK, 1996) has clearly been touched by some of the madness that appears throughout the history of the tulip, and her simple title belies the complexity of the story she tells. She traces the fascination for this flower from the first mania for its use in 14th-century Turkey to its evolution as a common garden flower. Using contemporary sources, which also supply some of the lavish illustrations, she documents the tulip's introduction to Western Europe in the 15th century. She also tells the personal stories of the gardeners who devoted their lives and fortunes to developing new varieties. The tulip's mysterious habit of "breaking" and developing new forms and colors was the basis for speculative crazes, first with the Dutch in the 17th century and then later the English and French, since the gardener who grew a desirable new variety could make a fortune. The second half of the book is a comprehensive listing and description of all tulip species as well as some of the 2600 varieties of garden tulips still in general cultivation. Pavord's lively history is recommended for all gardening collections.ÄDaniel Starr, Museum of Modern Art Lib., New York