Book Description

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.