The Tulip by Anna Pavord

The average array of tulips on offer in a British flower shop these days gives no hint of its extraordinary history, nor of its many varieties.

From the mid sixteenth century tulips were prized and fought over throughout Europe. Here are just some of the facts which this book brings to light:

* More than 5500 different tulips are listed in the international Register published since 1929 by the Royal General Bulbgrowers Association in the Netherlands.

* Between 1634 and 1637 tulip bulbs changed hands in Holland for the same price as a good house in Amsterdam.

* The virus which affects the tulip is the only known instance of a plant disease which enhances the value of the infected plant.

* It was the refugee travellers, the Huguenots, who carried tulips to Norwich, London and Dublin, as well as to America.

This book has received many plaudits and has occupied a place on the bestseller lists which it very much deserves. It is fascinating to read about the discovery of wild tulips in Turkey, the grip of Tulipmania in Holland and the tulip shows which took place all over the north of England in the nineteenth century. The competition between rival growers was very hot indeed.

Anna Pavord is a well known journalist and gardener. She has written a thrilling and enlightening book which is illustrated with beautiful photographs. Read it and you will probably succumb to tulipmania too.

*****
First published in hardback 1999. The hardback edition includes Tulips: The Species and Tulip Cultivars.
First published in paperback by Bloomsbury, 2000. 296pp. Colour plates. £8.99

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