John McPhee’s Oranges was originally conceived as a magazine piece for The New Yorker, but the author kept encountering so much irresistible information that he eventually found that he had in fact written an entire book. From Columbus himself bringing seeds to the New World, invading Moors in Spain, their symbolic role in the paintings of Renaissance masters, Louis XIV’s tapestries at Versailles, and of course Florida’s essential industry, this is a wholly entertaining and fascinating slice of botany and history. A very good first edition with clean pages and minimal jacket wear, including mylar cover.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1967

5.57” X 8.25”