BOTANICA MAGNIFICA GEB: Portraits of the World's Most Extraordinary Flowers and Plants (Natural History) - Tapa dura

Praise for Botanica Magnifica: "This has to be, hands down, the most gorgeous book of the year." -- ARTnews "Goes way beyond typical nature photography to reveal not just the shape and substance of these living things but also their essence." -- O, the Oprah Magazine "Art aficionados marvel at their painterly quality, and botanists are in awe of how Singer manages to capture them so true to form." -- Smithsonian Magazine "You've never seen still-lifes of flora this crisp and hyper-real before. Photographer Jonathan Singer uses cutting edge digital techniques to reveal delicate structures of plant life to often jaw-dropping effect." -- Elle Magazine "A podiatrist photographs some of the world's most endangered flowers with remarkable precision and artistry, hoping to raise the plants' profiles before it's too late." -- Audubon Magazine "...It's [Singer's] flowers, in Botanica Magnifica, that have caused quite a stir. Art aficionados marvel at their painterly quality, and botanists are in awe of how Singer manages to capture them so true to form..." -- Smithsonian(dot)com "A greenhouse between two covers." -- Reader's Digest "Botanica Magnifica is truly one of the most amazing natural history publications that has ever appeared..." -- Zoom Magazine "As rare and sublime as the marvels surveyed within its broad covers, Singer has produced a work to rest alongside some of the great botanical codexes in history, one for connoisseurs of the still-life, natural phenomena, and the photographic art." -- Library Journal "This single and singular volume...offers profound delight...Together the artist and the scientist observe and create diverse and new forms with these images." -- Bloomsbury Review "This impressive book should capture the imagination of naturalists and artists as well as the general public." -- Choice

Botanica Magnifica features 250 stunning photographs of rare and exotic plants and flowers by Hasselblad Laureate Award winner Jonathan Singer. Botanica Magnifica features 250 stunning photographs representing--in the words of an ARTnews critic--rare or exotic plants and flowers "in large scale and exquisite detail, emerging from the shadows in a manner evocative of Old Master paintings." The original edition of Botanica Magnifica, consisting of five lavishly hand-bound volumes, was limited to just ten copies, the first of which was recently donated to the Smithsonian Institution. The extra-large "double-elephant" format of that edition was chosen in homage to the famous double-elephant folio of The Birds of America, and indeed, Botanica Magnifica is one of the few works of natural history ever to rival Audubon's magnum opus in its scope and artistry. In praise of the double-elephant folio of Botanica Magnifica, the Smithsonian's Chairman of Botany attested, "Everyone who has seen the photographs...has been tremendously impressed with the power, scale, and depth of the work." Now Singer's remarkable images are available to the public for the first time in this hardcover with slipcase, baby-elephant folio of Botanica Magnifica. This volume is organized into five alphabetically arranged sections, each introduced by a gatefold page that displays one extraordinary plant at a luxurious size. Each pictured plant is accompanied by a clear and accessible description of its botany, geography, folklore, history, and conservation. Botanica Magnifica is one of the most impressive volumes of natural history ever published.