Book

Bilston, Sarah, author.

The lost orchid : a story of Victorian plunder and obsession / Sarah Bilston.

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2025.

vi, 390 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm

"Sarah Bilston follows the colorful characters and fateful dramas of orchid mania, the nineteenth-century craze among European and North American collectors vying to own the world's most coveted flowers. Focusing on the hunt for the so-called lost orchid, Bilston reveals the enormous human and environmental cost of a colonial obsession."-- Provided by publisher.

Orchids -- History -- 19th century.

Orchid industry -- England -- History -- 19th century.

Orchid industry -- America -- History -- 19th century.

Orchid industry -- Environmental aspects -- History -- 19th century.

Orchids in literature.

Plant collectors -- History -- 19th century.

Cattleyas -- History -- 19th century.

Orchidées dans la littérature.

Plantes -- Collectionneurs et collections -- Histoire -- 19e siècle.

Orchidées -- Histoire -- 19e siècle.

Orchidées -- Industrie -- Angleterre -- Histoire -- 19e siècle.

Orchidées -- Industrie -- Amérique -- Histoire -- 19e siècle.

Orchidées -- Industrie -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Histoire -- 19e siècle.

Cattleyas -- Histoire -- 19e siècle.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Origins -- A naturalist arrives -- Trouble brewing -- Swainson vanishes -- "Old antiquity" -- The Russia connection -- First sight -- False trail? -- Orchid varieties -- "Orchids for the million" -- Battles at the gate -- A new dynasty -- Hatching a plan -- Doctoring orchids -- Darwin's crisis -- "I Much want a cattleyea" -- "The whole world's mad on cattleya" -- Fakes -- Damage -- Entering the lists -- Ericsson and Bungeroth -- The great discovery -- The second great discovery -- Errors -- "Some Brazilian" -- "King of the orchids" -- Epilogue: fall -- and rise.

2024035466

9780674272606

0674272609

1454727769

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491020

635.9347 BIL

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