The Woodbook: The Complete Plates - Hardcover

Leistikow, Klaus Ulrich

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 383653603X ISBN 13: 9783836536035

Publisher: Taschen America Llc, 2013

Synopsis

Culled and assembled by Romeyn Beck Hough between 1888 and 1913 in what still remains a stunning and unparalleled achievement, American Woods―originally published in 14 volumes, with actual specimens mounted on card stock―is a work of breathtaking beauty that has set the standard for the study of trees and wood.

TASCHEN’s Woodbook reproduces, in painstaking facsimile, all of the specimen pages from the original volumes; for this purpose we have obtained the use of an extremely rare original set of volumes in very good condition, with minimal damage to the wood cuts. For all trees, now arranged in alphabetical order, three different cross-section cuts of wood are represented (radial, horizontal, and tangential), demonstrating the particular characteristics of the grain and the wealth of colors and textures to be found among the many different wood types. Also included in this special edition are lithographs by Charles Sprague Sargent of the leaves and nuts of most trees, as well as texts describing the trees’ geographical origins and physical characteristics.

About this title

About the Author:

Klaus Ulrich Leistikow (1929-2002) studied natural science and philosophy at the universities of Cologne, Tübingen and Glasgow, and then taught biology at the university of Frankfurt. From 1986 to 1989 he was Director of the Botanical Institute and the Botanical Gardens in Frankfurt-am-Main. It was there in 1988 that he was elected Chairman of the Society of Friends of the Palm Garden.

Review:

“The specimens, as things of beauty, are greatly to be prized... The work is valuable and unique.”

About this edition

• Publisher: Taschen America Llc
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 383653603X
• ISBN 13: 9783836536035
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 766