The Meaning of Flowers: Myth, Language & Lore

by Ann Field and Gretchen Scoble

Book Overview

Should you send a rose of crimson or of white to the one you love? What gift of flowers best expresses thanks to a dear friend? From ancient days, long before words complicated what we say to one... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811819310
• ISBN13: 9780811819312
• Release Date: April 1998
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Length: 108 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A useful starting point for the non-specialist

While I must bow to the expertise of the first two reviewers, who seem to have done much more research on the topic of flowers and their meanings than I have, I found the book to be a useful initiation into a subject I previously knew nothing about. I am currently online looking for other books on the subject because I found it so compelling. I think the book is more likely to serve as a resource for an artist--as a source of inspiration or ideas--than for a researcher. If you enjoy the study of symbols and tradition, and if you are looking for a jumping-off point for further investigation, or for some creative enterprise, this could be your book. If you are a serious researcher, you will--apparently--be badly disappointed.

A unique view of flowers, an enjoyable experience

This book is not to be bought as a reference book for a complete history of flowers and their names. It is a synergistic combination of pictures and words. It is to be experienced as a greeting card from the flowers to you, a photographic essay about flowers and the way they can touch you. The words and pictures are witty and inventive. See this book not as a reference work, but as a special gift for a flower lover and you will be pleased.