8vo. 184 pgs. Fine hardcover in Fine jacket. Translated by Lenore Rosenberg and Anita Weston. Firsy published in1996 as "Il flore degli dei, l'orchideadel mito alla storia" by Nuovo Equilibri, Viterbo, Italy. Foreword by Henry Oakley. Richly illustrated throughout with black and white period engravings and paintings and full page color plates from Warner and Williams "The Orchid Album". An account of the discovery of the orchid and it's place in literature, religion, the arts, magic, cuisine, lore and legend. Also included is an account of the most popular genera and their cultivation. Chapters: myths and legends, from prehistory to history, patrons and hunters, arts and customs (literature, art, magic, religion, medicine, edible orchid products), the plant (habitat, plant structure and behavior), the genera (Cattleya, Cymbidium, Dendrobium, Epidendrum, Enciclia, Laelia, Miltonia and Miltoniopsis, Odontoglossum, Oncidium, Paphiopedilum and other slipper-orchids, Phalaenopsis, Vanda, European Orchids), growing orchids, sources, index of orchids. ISBN 0881924911. #1678.