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Rosie Sanders, often described as the best painter of the world's most famous fruit, has devoted years to researching The Apple Book and submitting the apples to hour upon hour of meticulous observation. In 144 sensuously detailed watercolours she depicts the unrivalled range of form, colour and texture which characterize such varieties as Beauty of Bath, Peasgood Nonsuch, Cox's Orange Pippin and Egremont Russet.
She shows the apples together with their blossom, twig and leaf and has written a detailed description recording their shape, colour, aroma, flavour and season as well as something of the history of each variety. Marginal line drawings in cross-section complete a comprehensive guide to identification and a source of inspiration for apple growers. The Apple Book's usefulness is enhanced by a practical essay on apple growing by Harry Baker, fruit officer for many years at the Royal Horticultural Society and one of Britain's foremost authorities on apple growing.
First published in 1988 as The English Apple and still the most trusted and sought-after book for apple identification in the UK, this new edition is revised and updated for an international readership and includes an additional 22 varieties.
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Introduction
Index of Apples
The Identification of Apples
The Plates
Growing Apples
Identification Tables
Rosie Sanders is widely recognised as one of Britain's leading botanical artists. She has been awarded five Gold medals by the Royal Horticultural Society and won the Royal Academy miniature award. Best known for her superlative studies of fruit, apples in particular, Rosie has devoted much of her time recording old and present varieties culminating in this book. She lives on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon
Harry Baker was fruit officer for many years at the Royal Horticultural Society and is one of Britain's foremost authorities on apple growing.
"As an identification manual it is unparalleled, but even if you are not within ten miles of an apple tree, this is a book worth having. It is beautifully put together and full of intriguing information about how different apples got their names."
- Anna Pavord in The Independent on the first edition of The Apple Book
"First published in 1988 and still the most sought-after and trusted book for apple identification in the UK due in no small part to these exquisite botanically accurate illustrations."
- Royal Horticultural Society
"A hybrid between a treasury of exquisite botanical illustrations and a directory of 144 varieties that can grow in the UK."
- Anne Gatti, Times
"Each entry in this book is a labour of love."
- Western Morning News
"Exquisite drawings and stories."
- English Garden
"The first thing that struck me about this book was the beautiful illustration on the cover and the rest of the book lived up to this promise"
- BBC Countryfile
"Rosie Sanders' lovingly detailed paintings are a pleasure to browse. Even if you didn't appreciate apples before, you probably will by the time you have thumbed through these luscious pages [...] Short of specifying which variety of apple caused all that kerfuffle in the garden of Eden, it's about as comprehensive as you can get."
- Dales Life
"This handsome volume should be on the Christmas list of everyone interested in apples, and indeed of everyone interested in botanical illustration [...] Every page is a delight."
- Irish Garden
"Eden's bounty never looked more attractive. Long hours of observation have gone to create a delight, but one that is iwell informed too [...] Buy it and give it – if you can bear to let it go."
- Field
"Apple-lovers won't want to be without The Apple Book. So much more effective for identification thatn any photographic guide. The best on the subject, by far."
- Evening Standard
"For the budding pomologist, there is The Apple Book by botanical artist, Rosie Sanders [...] It depicts in delicious watercolours and precise line drawings 144 varieties of apple. It is one of the most beautiful garden-related books I've seen this year."
- Irish Times
"An excellent modern-day pomona, indespensible to the home gardener and small-scale fruit grower [...] Rosie Saunders is also a botanical illustrator and has supplied her own equally beautiful paintings – one for each of her varieties. Her smaller overall selection will perhaps concentrate the gardener's mind when it comes to choosing from the many, and former RHS fruit officer Harry Barker's chapter on cultivation renders the practical side delightfully straightforward."
- Hortus
"The pictures are so realistic you can almost smell the apples!"
- Garden Answers
"A superb book for any enthusiast, gardener or cook."
- Landsman
"Once you have leafed through this book, you will not be able to live without it."
- Professional Gardener
