From time to time, over the years, exceptional books on plants and gardens appear on the scene.
Some are works of art from the point of view of painting. Others are distinguished by their literary style, and still, others win acclaim for their extraordinary illustrations.
Such a book is “All the Plants of the Bible” by Winifred Walker, who has written the text and made the paintings that comprise this outstanding book.
Although the illustrations were painted in natural color, printing, and publishing costs made reproducing all of them in their original color impractical. Therefore, the offset process photographed and reproduced each painting in black and white.
Each of the illustrations has been reproduced with great care and skill, and the result is a book of exceptional quality printed in black and white.
After carefully studying the frontispiece (reproduced opposite), which shows the pomegranate and the fig, those of us who love the color (and most everyone does) can only hope that the time will come when there will be another edition of this book in full color, showing the 114 plates.
The Illustrator and Author, Winifred Walker
The illustrator and author Winifred Walker has established herself as a renowned botanical artist. A fellow of the Linnean Society, she served as a special artist of the Royal Horticultural Society for 10 years.
Her paintings of Shakespeare’s flowers were published some years ago in a Christmas issue of the “Illustrated London News”.
Since coming to America, Mrs. Walker has painted a large collection of the flowers of California and became an artist in residence at the University of California.
While pursuing her work on the West Coast, she became interested in an exhibit of Bible plants, which was staged at the New York Botanical Garden under the direction of Dr. Harold N. Moldenke. Then, she began her search for live specimens of the familiar flowering plants mentioned in the Bible.
Exploring “All The Plants of The Bible”
“All the Plants of the Bible” is not the kind of book that one would pick up and read from cover to cover.
Rather, it is better suited to dip into now and again to refresh one’s memory of those telling passages in the Old and New Testament, which describe the growing things that were a vital part of the everyday life of the people of Biblical times.
For example, to look at the portrait of the common almond tree and read that it flowers in the Holy Land in January, one is surprised to learn that throughout the era of the Maccabees, the almond was the inspiration for the design of the shekel.
It is equally exciting to read the comments on cotton, fig, cucumber, dill, acanthus, and the dangerous hemlock.
To most people, the word hemlock conjures up a picture of a beautiful evergreen. The true hemlock of the Bible is a biennial, resembling somewhat the wild carrot of our fields and waysides.
All parts of the plant contain an oily substance known as caria. If given internally, this plant causes serious irritation, eventually resulting in paralysis, convulsions, and even death.
Before the time of Christ, it was given to prisoners who were doomed to die, and many of us recall that it was the potion that Socrates took 400 years before the time of Christ.
These and many other fascinating facts relating to the plants of the Bible are contained in this notable new work.
A Book For Plant Lovers and Gardeners
Everyone who loves plants and enjoys recalling the verses which pertain to them in the greatest of all books will find “All the Plants of the Bible” a book well worth owning.
And what more appropriate gift can one give to real, died-in-the-wool gardeners than this beautifully illustrated volume?
44659 by D. J. F.