Product Description

How exquisite is exquisite? Photographer Christopher Baker and Willem Lemmers, one of the world's foremost tulip experts, set out to find the answers. The result is Tulipa, where, in 350 stunning full-color plates, perfection in nature meets perfection in art.

Each specimen was chosen for its importance as a superb example of the flower's form and characteristics, and each photograph, taken at the peak of the flower's beauty, becomes a stunning portrait. The "story" behind 500 tulips is told as well, from a tulip's parentage to the history of its cultivation and discovery.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #994527 in Books
• Published on: 1999-01-10
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 308 pages

From Library Journal
Horticultural books devoted to showy flowers usually fall into two categories: lush pictorials with insubstantial text and practical guides with illustrations that only inadequately capture the sensuous beauty of their subjects. This book by photographer Baker and tulip-grower Lemmers is, however, a rare exception. This work contains more than 300 exquisite photographs of tulip species, cultivars, and hybrids. Much like 18th-century botanical illustrations, each photographic portrait depicts an individual tulip (shown in many cases as a whole plant--flower, leaf, and bulb) set against an austere white background. The photographs are complemented by Lemmers's exhaustive descriptive catalog of 500 tulips and his personal account of the history of the tulip industry, itself a substantial contribution to the chronicles of modern floriculture. Highly recommended for all public libraries and academic libraries with horticultural collections.
-Brian Lym, City Coll. Lib. of San Francisco
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap
Inspired by seventeenth and eighteenth-century botanical engravings, photographer Christopher Baker set out to revisit the beauty and detail of these drawings in a different medium. With camera in tow, he spent eight months in the bulb fields of Holland, photographing the most outstanding cultivated and species tulips. Working with renowned bulb expert and grower Willem Lemmers, who hand-picked and approved every tulip photographed, Christopher Baker was able to capture each flower at the peak of its perfection.

The result is an art book with a mission: Exquisite to look at, Tulipa, is also the ultimate authority on cultivated and species tulips. Mr. Lemmers, a third-generation bulb grower, tells the stories behind five hundred tulips: their parentage and origins, and the growers who bred them. Each tulip profile includes the tulip's registered name and synonyms, a description of its characteristics, and its suitability for the garden and for forcing. Mr. Lemmers also provides a definitive and up-to-date explanation of the most recent classification of tulips, as well as a look at the classification system's fascination four-hundred-year history.

The volume contains more than three hundred photographs organized by growing season from early- to late-flowering. Chosen for their importance as superb specimens of the tulip's form and characteristics, these portraits show the diversity, range, and sublime charms of the flower that has obsessed nations. This exploration of the magical, sensuous, awe-inspiring tulip is a must-have for collectors, gardeners, armchair enthusiasts, and art lovers alike.

About the Author
Christopher Baker's photographs have appeared in Martha Stewart Living, House & Garden, Garden Design, World of Interiors, and Town & Country, as well as in magazines and ad campaigns around the world. Among his many books are The Glory of Roses, The Gardens of Paris, Chateau Cuisine, and The French Vineyard Table. Before turning to photography full time, Mr. Baker studied to become a botanist. He lives in New York with his wife and two children.

Willem Lemmers has been a member of the Tulip Committee of the Royal General Bulb Growers Association (KAVB) for over thirty-five years, the last twenty of which he has served as chairman. In addition, he has been chairman of the Council of Nomenclature Committees of the KAVB and was appointed to the Daffodil and Tulip Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in London as well as to other RHS subcommittees. Mr. Lemmers has judged many international flower shows, including the Chelsea Flower Show. He lives in Lisse, Holland.

Emma Sweeney is a garden designer and writer. She has authored several books on gardening, including Burpee Basics: Perennials and Burpee Basics: Annuals. She has a certificate in commercial horticulture from the New York Botanical Garden and lives on a 130-year-old farm in Clinton, New York.

Michael Pollan is a contributing editor at Harper's magazine, where he served for many years as executive editor, and a contributing editor and writer for The New York Times Magazine. He has written two award-winning books, Second Nature: A Gardener's Education and A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder. His essays and articles have appeared in numerous periodicals, and he lectures widely on environmentalism, gardening, and nature. He lives in Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut, with his wife and son.

Customer Reviews

Expensive and classy art book.....
In recent years, my approach to planting tulips and other small spring-flowering bulbs has been to dig down to the core ground underneath the raised bed I use for flowers, line the bed with composted cow manure laced with bone meal, and toss the bulbs in, letting them lie where they land. I usually buy an assortment of my favorite tulips including Negrita and Queen of the Night which I mix up, so come spring, I have a nice surprise when they emerge, but I cannot always tell which tulip is which.

TULIPA by Baker and Lemmers will help me solve some of the mystery. With hundreds of tulip photographs I can use in the identity parade, plus some descriptive text, I should be able to sort out the riot of colors come spring. TULIPA is an exquisite art book, in which the authors have used the Netherlandish floral paintings of the Golden Age for inspiration for their photographs.

Tulips are featured in all their splendor, many owing a single page, while others are arranged around a page as if in a loose bouquet. Some are open ala Georgia O'Keefe, others closed demurely. The text of the book is sparse, with short essays by Michael Pollen, editor and garden author; Christopher Baker, photographer; and William Lemmers , member of the Tulip Committee of the Royal Bulb Growers Association (KAVB) and the Royal Horticultural Society in London.

Lacey frilly, and in some cases not unlike an ice cream sundae. What's not to like about tulips? Given it's price, this is not the book to buy if you only want a practical guide to growing tulips, but it will make a lovely addition to your art library.

Gorgeous Photography
This is not a practical "how to" book of gardening, but it is a simply gorgeous book to look through nonetheless. An excellant addition for an avid tulip enthusiast who likes to collect books on subject. Contains a comprehensive listing of tulips and has close-up pictures of many types not usually pictured in other tulip books. Gives historical information that is interesting but not really useful. Makes a great book for your coffee table and even my friends who don't garden always enjoy looking through this book. I rate it 5 stars because I think it is a beautiful book, but I do think it is over-priced and if you are looking for a book to give you practical tips on planting bulbs, this is not for you.

Spell-binding and amazing
In all of my years, I have never seen quite a unique and exquisite celebration of the maginificence of these natural wonders. Christopher Baker's eye portray's the simple elegance of these flowers with a passion that is fascinating. One can hardly appreciate the vast array of the tulips' varieties, surely never seen before. I congratulate Christopher on this masterful and clearly personal gift of his life's passion. The photography is gracefully complemented by reverant prose that both leaves much to the imagination, but skillfully engrosses the reader in these magical creations. I can only say this, while a rose may always be a rose, every tulip, since this wonderful publication, is truly it's own incarnation. Thank you, Mr. Baker.