cj if you ever want to feel like you have won the lottery, sell me your VII, Laelias by Withner. My husband can't find this for sale for any amount!

I must admit I don't have Ortho, Taylor or Orchids for Dummies books, but they are on my list. My current list of books -

Flora's Orchids - Nash & LaCroix
Angraecoid - Stewart
Illustrated Orchids - Pridgen
Orchid Species Culture - The Bakers
Dendrobiums and Relatives - Lavarcick-Harris-Stacker
Understanding Orchids - Cullina
Four Seasons of Orchids - Allikas-Nash
Phal. Orchids - Noble
Ultimate Orchid - Sheehan
Orchids - Arnold
Masdevallias - Gerritsen - Parsons
Orchids - Marshall
Private Lives of Orchids - Simon
Paphiopedilum Growers Manuel - Birk
Pictorial Encyclopedia of Oncidium - Chase
Classic Cattleya - Chadwick
Catts & Relatives - Epi - Withner - Harding
Catts & Relatives - Enc - Withner
Catts & Relatives - Schrombergia, etc. - Withner
Cattleya & Relatives - Withner
American Cattleya - Hackney

We also receive the magazines Orchids (AOS) Orchid Digest and Orchid Review (RHS). We don't have a shortage of reading material here.

Brooke

Brooke, you have a lot that I don't have and am curious about.

Which of the Baker's Orchid Culture books do you have and what do you think about it?

What about the Dendrobium & Relatives? Is it more about hybrids or does it really get into the species, even less-common species?

If you watch Ebay carefully, the Withner Laelia book occasionally turns up. Back during last summer, I managed to win a second complete 6-vol set of Withner's books in like-new condition. But I do already have an orchid friend in line if I decide to sell the extra set. The books do turn up, even the popular Laelia one. But if you don't have access to a copy, I will be glad to scan any species you want to read up on.

The Baker book is Orchid Species Culture - Oncidium and Odontoglossum Alliance by Margaret L. Baker & Charles O. Baker and yes, it is exceptional for that family. Basically anything you want to know about each species.No purdy pictures though, just pure facts.

Dendrobium and Its Relatives is all species and a GREAT book. We just got a Den. Roy Tokunaga which is two species. atroviolacea x johnsoniae (hope I have the spelling correct) so I could look up the info and decide how to grow this one. Lots of purdy pictures but all info on regions, altitudes, rainfall, wet/dry etc. I highly recommend the book.

I see you don't have the Chadwick or Hackney books on catts. Both of these are excellent books. The Chadwick book is a compilation of articles he wrote for the AOS and gives an excellent history of the catts and Brazilian catts. Great reading.

The Hackney book is only available from Orchid Books and it explains the early hybridization of catts of who did it, why they did it, why it worked, why it didn't. Great reading.

I want the Christenson and Fowlie books from your list. I will watch Ebay for the missing Withner book. My husband really wants it. Somehow there is a way to sign up on Ebay to watch for certain things, so will do that. Thanks for the offer to scan - if you PO your friend, let me know:>)

Brooke

I have a large number of orchid books but like everything else around here there is no list.....

How about Bulbophyllums and their Allies. A growers guide by Emily S. Siegerist
AND
A Very Victorian Passion - The Orchid Paintings of John Day. By Phillip Cribb & Michael Tibbs. I suspect this book in pristine condition cost megabucks, but beautiful illustrations and interesting text.

The books to avoid are those coffee table types. All pictures and no worthwhile text.

CJ: That Christensen book on Phalaenopsis is on my list for the next time I have $130 for a book :)

Well, my list is meager in comparison, and mine are just hobbyist books. But then I'm not a Botanist, and I haven't been growing orchids for 40 years.

Besides, I thought the average person needed some representation here!

On the plus side, tho, most were written after the 1960's. Hope they are up-to-date enough for the critics:

Gordon Culture of the Phalaenopsis Orchid, 1990
Hackney American Cattleyas 2004
Jaworski Orchids Simplified 1992
Kramer Growing Orchid Hybrids Indoors 1985

McDonald 100 Orchids for the American Gardener 1998
Pridgeon Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids 1985

Taylor's Guide to Orchids 1996 (bought because someone here recommended it a few years ago. I only recently learned here that it's *The* Orchid Bible among uptodate scholars)

Withner Cattleyas and their Relatives: 1998-2000
Vol. I. Cattleyas
II. Laelias
V. Brassavolas...and other genera of Mexico
VI. South American Encyclias

Van Patten Gardening Indoors with H.I.D. Lights 1997

My Ortho book was given away long ago.

Thank you, Arthur. Cribb had also published another orchid art book, "The Forgotten Orchids of Alexandre Brun" which is a lovely book but for some reason turns up very cheap at Ebay and on used book databases like ABE.

I haven't bought the Chadwick book because all his old AOS articles are available at the Chadwick Orchids website. I printed them out and stuck them in a binder long before he published his book. I'm cheap.

mehitabel, do you think the Taylor's book would be repetitious for me to purchase, or is it loaded with really good information about lots of species?

Gotta go hunting the Dendrobium book now ...

CJ, I think it's not your speed.

There is some "how to grow orchids" stuff at the beginning. Then, the orchid species.

Starting with "A's" sometimes mentioned here:

Angaecum: specific mention and pictures of three, with one paragraph, app 100 words or less of how to grow.

Encyclia: one of your faves: pictures of three, and one paragraph, app 50 words. No mention of special needs of any.

Oncidium: pictures and descriptions of four species and four hybrids. Less than 170 words on How to Grow, which includes about half devoted to Tolumnia.

You get the picture.

I LOVE the Bakers' Dendrobium book -- basically, it contains all the Dendrobium species culture sheets that are available for pretty much a buck a pop on their website.

If you're into Dendrobiums, I'd actually recommend Lavarack and company's "Dendrobium and Its Relatives". It presents a short paragraph or two on hundreds of species, separated into families (the Index is very useful), and includes a picture which we all know is worth a thousand words. It's also more affordable and more readily available than the Bakers' book.

Julie

Brooke, your husband should try AbeBooks. They seem to have a copy. Btw, I would recommend this site to everyone who likes out of print and collectible books or if you're the kind of person that likes to browse through used book stores.

No list, but the ones off the top of my head that I like a lot:

Hawkes; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchid Species
Pridgeon; Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids
Simon & Schuster's Guide to Orchids [you laugh; but this is a really nice pocket guide to species with great photos]
Cullina; Understanding Orchids
Cribb; Genus Cypripedium
Averyanov & Cribb; Slipper Orchids of Vietnam
Reinikka; History of the Orchid
Lavarack et al; Dendrobium & Its Relatives
Northen; Home Orchid Growing 3rd ed

The Lavarack book is nice; not as complete as the Wood tome, but more useful. Ex: D. unicum is in Lavarack, but not the related D. lamiyae [sp?]

Cullina book gets my vote for best general orchid growing manual, with the most useful, hands-on advice on the species covered that I've seen.

The Cribb and Averyanov books are more specialized, but beautifully done and you won't find the information elsewhere. Unfortunately, both are out of print and difficult to pick up at a reasonable price.

Next book purchase will probably be the Stewart Angraecoid book, and I'd love to find the Hillerman compendium but doubt I will at an affordable price. Looking forward to the reviews on the new Koopowitz slipper orchid book due out in January.

$130 - holy carp! Did the Christenson book go out of print? It's good, but it's absolutely not worth $130!!

Christenson Phal Monograph ~ $70 and up. Booksellers read the
boards, too, you know...

Sweetcicely

Exciting news at my house. My husband finally found the Winther, Vol. II Laelia book. He's now trying to decide if he needs to go ahead and get all of them to make a complete set even though our interest doesn't go there.

My husband is looking forward to the Koopowitz book too. I'm interested on a review on the Frownie(?) Book on Minis - does anyone have it.

Thanks jemsta, I've marked the website you recommended.

Brooke

Orchid Digest had put out special editions over the years which are still available from them, prices include shipping I believe. Some are highly informative booklets, others are books, all by well-known orchid experts. Interestingly, they turn up used on Ebay and on book databases like ABE, often for far more that you can buy it new.

Here is a link that might be useful: Orchid Digest special editions

Thanks for the link to the Orchid Digests, CJ.

For anyone who is thinking about one or more of these:

I have the Phalaenopsis issue of the Digest. It was good coverage, I thought. In addition to the expected cultural notes, there were many references including one for a book on artificial light for phals.

Another article covered all the then-known species, with several paragraphs on each species, their characteristics and notes on characteristics they impart to offspring.

The pictures of course were fabulous, and there were lots and lots and lots of them, including all the species.

It was a real find for me, a very rich resource.

Re the phals book. Sheesh, it only came out a few years ago for like $35 MSRP. Gotta love it... but then when people pay those prices, that's what's gonna happen. If it's that popular, I'm surprised Timber hasn't reprinted it, I thought they were big on reprinting popular titles like the woefully out of date Pridgeon book. (No flames please, Pridgeon himself is itching to re-edit, or so he's said in print.) If poeple are willing to pay that much, they'd scarf 'em up at say $45...

PS: With all due respect to EC, it's really not worth it unless you're dying to have a taxonomic treatise on the genus. It's got a few nice pics, but mostly lots of so-so ones, prety much all small, and there's pretty much zip for cultural information. It's not at all a growers' guide. If you're looking for that, try the Bakers' book - that has no pics at all but is chock full of culture info and used to be fairly cheap second-hand.

I agree with nyc that Christenson's book is more technical, with plant description and botanical history of each species. Not much by way of species-specific cultural information, but he does give the countries of origin and the range of altitude they grow at. That's what I need to replicate the habitat, so this book works well for me. There is a full chapter on Cultivation which goes into the most up-to-date cultural aspects of growing Phals; he does a very good job here. But it doesn't say: "this (specific) species needs this type of pot with this medium and keep in a SE window, water on Wednesdays and Sundays," etc. It's not that kind of book.

I think the photos are very good, with often several for each species including the various forms and color variations, as well as plant shots for many of them. Most of the photos are at least the size of the flowers and some are quite larger. Full-page shots would add a huge number of extra pages (and expense) to the book, which would probably result in far less photos of each species. If you are looking for a coffee table picture book, this is not it.

I bought my copy new during this past summer from Amazon.com for about $30, before they sold out. The one thing always true with good orchid books is that the minute they sell out, the prices skyrocket. Since orchid growers are a fairly small purchasing group, most orchid books never go into a 2nd edition. I try to make a point of buying them before that happens rather than putting it off until it is too late (and too expensive). Still, I've missed the boat on some and continually browse the book databases and Ebay in hopes of finding them at a palatable price.

Merry Christmas to me, from me. I just purchased the Eric Christenson Phal. book for a mere $56.00. A good friend, shall we call them an enabler, sent me a link and today was my lucky day. The only other books available at this time carried a price tag of $140 and $225 - the one IS autographed by the author BUT!!!!! I can't wait to add it to my library of orchid books.

Brooke

Alright, I'll jump in on this bandwagon. This is my library of orchid books:

An Introduction to the Cultivated Angraecoid Orchids of Madagascar, by Hillerman & Holst

Angraecoid Orchids, by Stewart, et. al.

Orchids of Africa, by Stewart & Hennessy

Orchids of Kenya, by Stewart and Campbell

Orchids of Malawi, by Morris

African Orchids in the Wild and in Cultivation, by LeCroix

A Culture Manual for Aerangis Orchid Growers, by Hillerman

Orchids of Tropical Africa, be Stewart and Campbell

A Culture Manual for Angraecoid Orchid Growers, by Hillerman

I've also got Botanica's Orchids, Miniature Orchids by Northern, Pridgeon's Encyclopedia, Growing Orchids by the Ritterhausens, and a few others I picked up cheap from Amazon.

My advice is to go to Amazon books, type in "orchids" then arrange the results by price. You may be amazed what you can pick up for less than a penny a page. I got two or three nice books where the postage cost more than the actual book! You probably won't find Hillerman that way...but definitely nice coffee table books, etc.
-MB

Mike, you seem to be a bit top-heavy on Ang books. Any particular reason why? (grin)

Congrats, Brooke, on your new Phal book!!

Thanks cj! I'm thrilled with the purchase. It has been on my list for sometime and my enabling friend gave me a nudge and it is being shipped today. Just like with orchids on my wish list, my book wish list keeps getting longer, not shorter.

I agree with the recommendations on the issues of Orchid Digest focused on one family of 'chids. My husband ordered the catt, phrag, paph and epi issues and they are super. Somehow, he missed the phal issue! How could that be? Their lastest spotlight issue was on lycaste and well worth the subscription rate for the year - very informative.

He is already on the pre-order list for the Koopowitz book and I'll make sure he gets on the list for the Frowlie phal book too. It sure is cheaper to buy them when new rather than search for out of print books.

Brooke

Great thread, CJ. Your collection has me drooling. My list:

Allikas, Nash- Orchids
Allikas, Nash- World's Most Beautiful Orchids
Black, Peter McKenzie- Orchid Growing
Grove, David L.- Vandas & Ascocendas
Kramer, Jack- 100 Orchids For Florida
Kramer, Jack- Orchids For The South
La Croix, Isobyl- Orchid Basics
Light Marilyn- Growing Orchids in the Caribbean
McDonald, Elvin- 100 Orchids For The American Gardener
Mee, Margaret- In Search of Flowers of the Amazon Forests
Motes, Martin- Vandas, Their Botany, History & Culture
Noble, Mary- You Can Grow Cattleyas
Noble, Mary- You Can Grow Orchids
Noble, Mary- You Can Grow Phalaenopsis, Revised Edition
Northen, Rebecca Tyson- Home Orchid Growing, 4th Edition
Northen, Rebecca Tyson- Miniature Orchids and How To Grow Them
Northen, Rebecca Tyson - Orchids as House Plants
Orchid Society Of South East Asia- Orchid Growing In The Tropics
Pridgeon, Alec- Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids
Rittershausen, Wilma- Orchids
Rittershausen, Wilma- Success With Orchids
Schoser, Gustavo- Orchid Growing Basics
Sheehan, Thomas- Ultimate Orchid
Soon, Teoh Eng- Orchids of Asia
South Florida Orchid Society Presents- An Introduction To Orchids: A Guide to the Growing & Breeding of Orchids
South Florida Orchid Society Presents- A"Guide To Growing In The Subtropics, 3rd Edition
Starosta & Paul- Orchids
White, Judy- Taylor's Guide To Orchids
Withner, Carl L -Cattleyas And Their Relatives Vol 1

Plus Ortho, Sunset, a sagging shelf containing back years of AOS bulletins (even after donating many to our OS) and a treasured Jones & Scully catalog. :>) I hope to add the remainder of Wither's Cattleya volumns to my shelf soon. And Oh! to have the Fowlie's. Sigh.

Marci

I really enjoy my small home orchid library. Most of my several volumes were listed in previous posts. I also have a 15 year stretch of the AOS Bulletin.

Last night, I attended one of my local orchid societies. This one has a loaning library.

I returned Withner's book on Bifoliate Brasilian Cattleyas and checked out Orchidaceae Brasilienses by Pabst & Dungs. I am certain to make a few photocopies of identifying plates from Pabst & Dungs. What a reference!

I also borrowed one that I had never seen before, The Astonishing Stanhopeas by Barney Greer (1998). I already learned a key cultural point to help me (hopefully) flower my Stanhopea insignis, now five years w/o flowers.

The $20 annual membership is worth the access to the library alone! For those who have the opportunity, I heartily recommend joining a group!

--Stitz--

Marci,
What do you think of Motes' Vanda book? Is the emphasis on species or on hybrids? Habitat information? I try to keep away from the cooler growing Vanda species since they don't like my hot summers.

And the Grove "Vandas & Ascocendas" book?

CJ,
I found both books to be very in-depth. Each cover species & hybrids and provide environmental and cultural information. I am glad to have them both.

I try to stay away from all cool-growers. They don't like my hot summers and winters. Sometimes I don't, either. LOL

I got out my copy of Masdevallias - Gerritsen & Parsons to re-read after seeing it listed above. It is very much an in-depth book with 100+ pages before getting to flower pictures in any number.

This is not to be taken as a criticism. I am saying, tho, that if you want a coffee table book or a book for someone who is not growing Masdevallia species this may not be the right book.

I do grow them and they are an expanding part of my collection. I have not seen another book devoted to Masdevallia that gives the level of detail that this one does, written in language that can be understood by a hobbyist.

Santa arrived today. I received my Eric Christenson book via the mailwoman. I won it Thursday night on Ebay and received it today. Santa is on the ball. I flipped through it and know I will love it but I promised myself to not start reading it tonight since it is a Christmas present.

Hopefully another learning tool to help me tweak my growing of phals.

Brooke