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The Tulip
In an auction held in Holland in February 1637, 99 lots of tulip bulbs fetched a staggering 90,000 guilders, more than $3.5 million in today's money. Tulipomania had reached its height, and its story is told in just one of the fascinating sections of Anna Pavord's wonderful book on this most seductive of flowers.
Pavord's passion for the flower is evident from the opening pages of the book, where she tells of scrambling across the hillsides of Crete in search of an obscure, indigenous purple tulip. The story of the discovery of this tulip leads into Pavord's extraordinary history of this beautiful, enigmatic flower. As with all the best love stories, Pavord's is told from the perspective of the object of affection--in this case, the tulip--from its adoption by the Ottoman sultans of Istanbul in the 18th century to its present cultivation by the Wakefield Tulip Society.
Along the way, incredible stories of people's investments in the flower emerge, the result, as Pavord explains, of a unique feature of the tulip. Its variegated colors are produced by a small parasitic aphid, which weakens the plant but produces its gorgeous hues. The tulipomania that gripped 17th-century Europe was a form of futures trading, as people purchased tulip bulbs at increasingly inflated prices with the hope that they would flower into the most beautiful and kaleidoscopic colors imaginable. Tulip is an extraordinary book, beautifully illustrated and offering a fascinating story of our obsession with the most ephemeral of objects. Buying tulip bulbs will never be the same again. --Jerry Brotton
480 pages, Hardcover
First published January 15, 1999
74 people are currently reading
2133 people want to read
About the author
Anna Pavord
32 books44 followersAnna Pavord is the gardening correspondent for THE INDEPENDENT and the author of widely praised gardening books including PLANT PARTNERS and THE BORDER BOOK. She wrote for the OBSERVER for twenty years, has contributed to COUNTRY LIFE, ELLE DECORATION and COUNTRY LIVING, and is an associate editor of GARDENS ILLUSTRATED. For the last thirty years she has lived in Dorset, England where she is currently making a new garden. Constantly experimenting with new combinations of flowers and foliage, she finds it a tremendous source of inspiration. -http://www.bloomsbury.com/author/anna...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
January 20, 2008
Did you think it was from the Netherlands? Think again - the tulip is an excellent history illuminating the myth of the flower, and the horticultural science behind its modern day place in Europe.
May 19, 2013
I read other member comments before embarking on this book. I have to confess that although I live in Holland, I am not a lover of tulips. I much prefer the Narcissus family. And I can understand many of the comments because with all those worthy names, impossible dates and genera Tulipa made very heavy reading. But when you see that Anna Pavord is not only a journalist but also a professional gardener and author of serious gardening books, you can understand why parts of "The Tulip" rip along as if a historical novel and others become very heavy and documentary. So I followed fellow members advice and skip read taking in the excellent and highly readable introduction, chapters 1, 2 and really inspiring 7, The Last Hundred Years.
I am now suffering from Tulipmania.
I am now suffering from Tulipmania.
March 31, 2018
Not poorly written by any means, but to me, it was dry and wasn’t really what I was expecting. There were also large quoted pieces in French, untranslated, and this was originally published in English. Google translate is nobody’s friend.
February 6, 2020
DNF @ 40% of the way through.
I feel like this book is a great example of what non-history people think history is like: a list of dry historical facts about tulips with no effort made to connect these facts to larger societal trends in the period.
I don't particularly care which English man had which tulip in his garden if that's the only information you're going to provide. I want to learn about the impact that the tulip had on English society when it was first introduced.
Additionally, the author didn't bother to translate the French passages of sources that she consulted, which thankfully I could read, but also don't assume that your readers have French as a second language.
My final gripe was the annoying habit that the author had of providing the birth and death date of every individual she named. Not only is that entirely unnecessary, but it also clutters up the page and makes me want to skim over any individuals I see.
I still want to learn about the history of tulips but I'll be looking for another book to do so rather than finishing this one.
I feel like this book is a great example of what non-history people think history is like: a list of dry historical facts about tulips with no effort made to connect these facts to larger societal trends in the period.
I don't particularly care which English man had which tulip in his garden if that's the only information you're going to provide. I want to learn about the impact that the tulip had on English society when it was first introduced.
Additionally, the author didn't bother to translate the French passages of sources that she consulted, which thankfully I could read, but also don't assume that your readers have French as a second language.
My final gripe was the annoying habit that the author had of providing the birth and death date of every individual she named. Not only is that entirely unnecessary, but it also clutters up the page and makes me want to skim over any individuals I see.
I still want to learn about the history of tulips but I'll be looking for another book to do so rather than finishing this one.
July 2, 2013
I am by no means a gardener, but as a graduate student of Ottoman history and the History of Art I thoroughly enjoyed this foray into the world of tulips. A beautifully insightful read with lovely illustrations, 'The Tulip' is the perfect coffee-table book to delve in and out of.
April 26, 2020
Pavord writes with grace and enthusiasm. Sentence-by-sentence this is a fun read. I am giving up for now though because the information comes on so thick that it's hard to keep up, and because so much of the information seems to be about people buying and selling the tulips. I would rather hear more about the people painting them. Thank goodness the books is generous with beautiful and interesting images.
October 8, 2025
I expected to be fascinated and enchanted by this book but was deeply disappointed and bored by it and when I discovered it repeats the tulip mania legends I just gave up - see the 2008 'Tulipmania : Money, Honor, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age' by Anne Goldgar - admittedly this book was first published in 1999 but it is not like nobody knew that the so-called 'Tulipmania' was bogus and the invention of Charles Mackay in his 1841 'Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds'.
Life is to short to read boring books repeating ancient legends.
Life is to short to read boring books repeating ancient legends.
June 13, 2012
Beautiful written book about the history of the Dutch national flower, the Tulip
May 21, 2024
Didn’t know there was so much to know about tulips and their history, I’ve retained nothing but it was fun
February 1, 2023
I finally waded my way through this long, heavy book. Weighty too — hard to hold up over long periods. There were some interesting facts about the history of the tulip plant. And the book was replete with full page, beautifully colored pictures of tulips — mostly pictures of paintings of tulips, rather than pictures of actual plants. The book was printed on exquisitely thick paper, imparting a rich feel to the volume.
Originally published in 1999 and sold for $35, the book is now only available as used. I found my copy for less than $20, and I saw absolutely no evidence that it had actually been used.
So who should read this book? It is definitely not for the casual reader. There is so much detail (minutia) about some events that I occasionally found myself skimming. The last half of the book is devoted to detailed descriptions of the tulip species and cultivars. I confess that in those two chapters I read only the introductory pages and looked at the pictures. I’m not certain who would be interested in close readings there. Nurserymen? The true tulip collector?
What was the value of the book to me? I won’t remember the minute details. But I was fascinated to learn that tulips did not originate in the Netherlands but in Persia and the Ottoman Empire. The first tulipomania occurred there as well. One theme of the book was the greed of buyers who wanted to own every bulb of a cultivar and sellers who charged astonishing prices for single bulbs. Many people lost everything in the buying and selling. I was interested to learn, in the later chapters, how the Dutch developed their market by donating thousands of bulbs for public parks and events here in the United States and around the world.
I have a couple of quibbles with the book besides the plethora of detail. The author over used commas, often setting off proper nouns that should not have been set off by commas. (Perhaps that’s a British thing.) She quoted extensively from French texts that she did not translate. My French has not been much used these past 40 years, and I quickly tired of trying to parse these sections. What annoyed me most was when the author described a flower in detail but that was not the flower depicted on the facing page. References to the locations of the illustrations, if there were illustrations of the flowers being described, would have been appreciated.
Originally published in 1999 and sold for $35, the book is now only available as used. I found my copy for less than $20, and I saw absolutely no evidence that it had actually been used.
So who should read this book? It is definitely not for the casual reader. There is so much detail (minutia) about some events that I occasionally found myself skimming. The last half of the book is devoted to detailed descriptions of the tulip species and cultivars. I confess that in those two chapters I read only the introductory pages and looked at the pictures. I’m not certain who would be interested in close readings there. Nurserymen? The true tulip collector?
What was the value of the book to me? I won’t remember the minute details. But I was fascinated to learn that tulips did not originate in the Netherlands but in Persia and the Ottoman Empire. The first tulipomania occurred there as well. One theme of the book was the greed of buyers who wanted to own every bulb of a cultivar and sellers who charged astonishing prices for single bulbs. Many people lost everything in the buying and selling. I was interested to learn, in the later chapters, how the Dutch developed their market by donating thousands of bulbs for public parks and events here in the United States and around the world.
I have a couple of quibbles with the book besides the plethora of detail. The author over used commas, often setting off proper nouns that should not have been set off by commas. (Perhaps that’s a British thing.) She quoted extensively from French texts that she did not translate. My French has not been much used these past 40 years, and I quickly tired of trying to parse these sections. What annoyed me most was when the author described a flower in detail but that was not the flower depicted on the facing page. References to the locations of the illustrations, if there were illustrations of the flowers being described, would have been appreciated.
February 7, 2024
Reads like a textbook; certainly not "readable". Full of lovely art plates.
March 29, 2013
Interesting, yes. "Breathtaking", no. That and other cover blurbs like "stunning", "ravishing", and "reads more like an adventure story" over-billed it.
May 4, 2020
This is the first part of the 1999 published edition with the second parts "Tulips: The Species" and "Tulip Cultivars" only appearing in the original hardcover edition. Why I mention that is because some of the items that I felt was a drawback may have been part of those sections.
I would be completely surprised if Ms. Pavord is not considered an authority on tulips and the history of the tulip in Europe considering the tremendous amount of information relayed in her book. From personally searching the hills of Turkey as well as Crete for wild versions of the tulip. The history of the popular flower in Ottoman Turkey as it eventually migrated into Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, France, England and eventually America. There is a tremendous amount of information not only on growers, variants, painters of the catalogs and books, buyers and gardens which could have tens of thousands of bulbs. Fortunately, the author includes a chronology which after all the information, it helped keep the timeline clear.
Today, tulips are grown commercially in Japan, Washington State, Chile, Australia, Tasmania, the North Island of New Zealand, South Africa, and of course, the Netherlands. The devotees are trying to re-discover some of the antique versions of these lovely flowers but it's mostly known from the amateurs and general public that desire to have tulips available each spring.
There are three negatives as far as my being the reader:
One - Ms.Pavord would quote historic resources from French growers and owners. Unfortunately, the paragraphs (yes, paragraphs) are still in French with no translation available. Not even amidst the notes. She may think it's important but I certainly don't know why and was not willing to type entire paragraphs lasting nearly an entire page of the book into the web and request a translation.
Two - A glossary of terms as well as the anatomy of a tulip would have been very helpful to the reader. It took until page 76 until 'breaking' was defined. 'Feathered' on page 195. The types of Bizarres on page 87, Marquettines on page 78 and Parrots on page 255. I never did find definitions for striped, flamed, smudge-bottomed or bottom blots among others. And that doesn't include that some terms changed over the centuries from one to another. As a person not already familiar with the tulip terminology, it created confusion while reading.
Three - There were occasions when Ms. Pavord just listed books, catalogs, people, locations, etc and it's as interesting as reading a phone book. I understand she was being detailed and complete but it was . . . . just a section to jump over.
It is vastly interesting if you want to know more about the history of tulips but be prepared to be overwhelmed with details.
2020-087
I would be completely surprised if Ms. Pavord is not considered an authority on tulips and the history of the tulip in Europe considering the tremendous amount of information relayed in her book. From personally searching the hills of Turkey as well as Crete for wild versions of the tulip. The history of the popular flower in Ottoman Turkey as it eventually migrated into Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, France, England and eventually America. There is a tremendous amount of information not only on growers, variants, painters of the catalogs and books, buyers and gardens which could have tens of thousands of bulbs. Fortunately, the author includes a chronology which after all the information, it helped keep the timeline clear.
Today, tulips are grown commercially in Japan, Washington State, Chile, Australia, Tasmania, the North Island of New Zealand, South Africa, and of course, the Netherlands. The devotees are trying to re-discover some of the antique versions of these lovely flowers but it's mostly known from the amateurs and general public that desire to have tulips available each spring.
There are three negatives as far as my being the reader:
One - Ms.Pavord would quote historic resources from French growers and owners. Unfortunately, the paragraphs (yes, paragraphs) are still in French with no translation available. Not even amidst the notes. She may think it's important but I certainly don't know why and was not willing to type entire paragraphs lasting nearly an entire page of the book into the web and request a translation.
Two - A glossary of terms as well as the anatomy of a tulip would have been very helpful to the reader. It took until page 76 until 'breaking' was defined. 'Feathered' on page 195. The types of Bizarres on page 87, Marquettines on page 78 and Parrots on page 255. I never did find definitions for striped, flamed, smudge-bottomed or bottom blots among others. And that doesn't include that some terms changed over the centuries from one to another. As a person not already familiar with the tulip terminology, it created confusion while reading.
Three - There were occasions when Ms. Pavord just listed books, catalogs, people, locations, etc and it's as interesting as reading a phone book. I understand she was being detailed and complete but it was . . . . just a section to jump over.
It is vastly interesting if you want to know more about the history of tulips but be prepared to be overwhelmed with details.
2020-087
August 14, 2020
I’ve tried twice to finish this book. I failed again on this third go-around. The introduction is well written and sucks me in every time. Then the rest of the book crashes - it’s a mess. The author drones on with the histories of numerous gardens that contained tulips. Their creators (“florists”) were identified ad nauseum, including birth and death years, and in many cases the exact date that so-and-so set out on a trip to here-and-there. The glossy illustrations were lovely, but all the accompanying prose ... dull and uninspiring. We all know about the tulipmania that swept Holland in the mid-1630’s. Even the insanity of that period was lost in the telling. I read the reviews by others and I’m not alone in my disappointment. In fact, several complained about how paragraphs written by French writers extolling the tulip were quoted without translation. Actually I can read French moderately well and found those sections were evocative, and I suspect that the author would have sucked the beauty out in a translation. I can’t believe the introduction was written by the same person.
skimmed
October 26, 2019As I weed my gardening books, I discover I have two books about the history of tulips (you know you have to many books when....) This one, obviously, and Tulipomania by Mike Dash. I think this is the stronger of the two. It’s a big heavy book, with full color illustrations about every other page. The first 2/3rds traces the history of the tulip, while the remaining third (Part 2) is an encyclodedia of tulip varieties.
I used to love growing tulips when I was learning to garden in Connecticut. But now that I live in Tennessee, they’re basically an annual (though I’ve had a few come back the next year or two). If they don’t get eaten by the critters, the winter doesn’t get cold enough for them to do their hibernation thing. Still, I love looking at them in Spring, so I’ll probably buy a sack of them on sale at a big box.
This book is definitely a keeper, for the reference value alone. I doubt I need two books on the history of tulips, but I’ll keep both anyway.
Verdict: definitely keep.
I used to love growing tulips when I was learning to garden in Connecticut. But now that I live in Tennessee, they’re basically an annual (though I’ve had a few come back the next year or two). If they don’t get eaten by the critters, the winter doesn’t get cold enough for them to do their hibernation thing. Still, I love looking at them in Spring, so I’ll probably buy a sack of them on sale at a big box.
This book is definitely a keeper, for the reference value alone. I doubt I need two books on the history of tulips, but I’ll keep both anyway.
Verdict: definitely keep.
January 24, 2023
This hefty book with the subtitle "The Story of a Flower That Has Made Men Mad" contains beautiful illustrations and is printed on impressively thick paper. It makes for a great coffee table book. The author, British, is an exhaustive researcher and has organized the tome into a logical sequence of origin, Northern Europe, early British growers, tulipomania and the Dutch dominance, English florists ending with the last 100 years. An equal number of pages contain grand lists of species and cultivars. Read the introduction and you have a summary of the book. The remaining chapters fill in details that at times are mind bogglingly detailed. There is a handy chronology beginning with the tulip's first cultivation in 1451 in the Ottoman Empire (didn't you think it was from Holland???)
Glad I read it, although it took a while, and, at times, was quite hard going.
Glad I read it, although it took a while, and, at times, was quite hard going.
February 8, 2022
Tulips are my favorite flowers so when I saw this book at a used bookstore, I had to pick it up. The Tulip is basically a history of the tulip as it spread from its home in the East and how it affected those who loved it and how it left its mark on the history of several nations. The author is not a historian or even a history writer which I think shows as the written history was so dry and not very engaging considering how many countries and people were involved the retelling could've have been so good. The real charm of this book was that almost every other page had pictures of tulips and tulip drawings and paintings from their discovery to the present and those are all so gorgeous. For that alone I would recommend this book.
March 3, 2025
The Tulip by Anna Pavord is a super detailed and interesting deep dive into the history of tulips. I loved how Pavord brings the botanical info to life, but honestly, it can get a little dry at times, especially if you’re not a huge flower lover or history nerd. There is some French sprinkled throughout, which I totally loved in theory, but since I don’t speak the language, it was kind of tough to get the full impact. The author doesn't translate it, and there is enough French that you can't really google translate it. I was surprised to learn that tulips aren’t from France or the Netherlands! Overall, it’s a nice read for anyone who’s seriously into flowers and history, but a little too detailed if you’re just looking for something light.
Recommended for: Flower and history lovers.
Recommended for: Flower and history lovers.
June 19, 2019
I had read until the chapter about British tulips with great interest and then I put it aside ,the book was gathering dust next to my bed stand,so decided to give it a try and speed read ,lingering with the beautiful illustrations . I am not a gardener neither a historian but love tulips . I am not finished with the book in the real sense as will go back and read the Dutch part again. The modern last chapter I did read . It is a heavy book to hold ,and can be looked as a great research book with great color illustrations also gives a new perspective to history through the eyes of gardens,flowers ,horticulturists,floriculture,breeders an aurora of the times .
May 17, 2018
I love tulips and history, so what’s not to love this history of tulips? Especially after the blurbs on the back from New Yorker, Dallas Morning News, Chicago Sun-Times, saying Stunning, Sumptuous, Fascinating. Well, plenty, it turns out, as this book is overflowing with dates, names and places from many hundreds of years ago, ad infinitum, details to numb the brain. Way too much of that and too little human interest. But I do have a few names of tulip varieties to take to the garden center now.
September 30, 2018
This book wanted to be a story about “a flower that has made men mad,” but in Pavord’s dry, disorganized, and repetitive prose this becomes a book that has made men bored. That said, it’s a gorgeous book, printed on luxuriously thick stock, beautifully bound, and full of ravishing color plates of tulip drawings, paintings, and photos. The last two sections give up the story telling and the book becomes a valuable horticultural reference, which is what it should have been all along.
July 28, 2020
This wasn't a great read, I thought her writing was stilted and disjointed, but I have to commend her for her excellent research and glorious tulip prints all through the book. It is a beautiful book and if you have any interest in tulips, this is a tulip encyclopedia and history. At the end, she describes every type of tulip. I learned a lot and that kept my interest.
February 5, 2022
I'm confused as to how this is a new york times bestseller; maybe it had a very niche category. I found it pretty dull reading. The first three chapters felt like endless descriptions of tulips, with brief asides as to descriptions of art of tulips.
I was hoping for a history, and I found a description-only tulip catalog.
I was hoping for a history, and I found a description-only tulip catalog.
June 1, 2022
I was quite disappointed with this book. The introduction was interesting but the main book just seemed like a recitation of names and dates. It did not really explain what it was about the tulip that resulted in such an obsession. Also, as another reviewer mentioned, there were long sections in French with no translation which was not helpful.
January 2, 2023
This is a hefty book, but the back half is a summary of all the Tulip species which is of less interest to most. Tulipmania in the 1630s was an interesting socico-economic phenomenon, so good to understand it, and see parallels with other collectibles. Well illustrated for a history book. It surprised me that I often could not recognise the flowers in some images as the tulips I know.
July 11, 2023
DNF because I've been scammed
redoing this review because I forgot to name drop Lottie who told me to read this book. you made me read a terrible book and you will not be forgiven 😘
I thought I could be like a classic literature girly and read a fancy book but noooo. even though on the blurb it says it's "not a gardening book" it is a gardening book so that's a big fat lie
redoing this review because I forgot to name drop Lottie who told me to read this book. you made me read a terrible book and you will not be forgiven 😘
I thought I could be like a classic literature girly and read a fancy book but noooo. even though on the blurb it says it's "not a gardening book" it is a gardening book so that's a big fat lie
June 11, 2025
The history of the Tulip is fascinating and crazes's inspired by this flower
predate our modern speculative crashes in the financial markets. The frequent long
lists of Tulips names and color variations (which become tedious), paragraphs in French (which I do not read) detracted from the history and the narrative of this plants remarkable story.
predate our modern speculative crashes in the financial markets. The frequent long
lists of Tulips names and color variations (which become tedious), paragraphs in French (which I do not read) detracted from the history and the narrative of this plants remarkable story.
July 11, 2025
If you want actual detailed information about the tulip- this is the book. It was hard to read, too many names and dates that were dropped out of nowhere. If you want to read paragraphs in another language you can't read and that are never actually translated- this book has that.
I really wanted to like this book, but it felt all over the place. I didn't finish it.
I really wanted to like this book, but it felt all over the place. I didn't finish it.
April 18, 2021
Not sure what book the back cover reviews were written about, but I can't imagine it was this one. "Stunning," "fascinating," "ravishing," "wondrous," "delightful," and "sumptuous" do not describe this book at all. Unless you have an all-consuming love of all things tulip, skip this book.
January 11, 2025
This book has such great reviews and yet I found it totally failed to meet expectation and I failed to finish it. It was way too ‘bitty’ and skipped all over the place rather than telling an interesting historical story of the beautiful tulip. Not for me I’m afraid!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews