A list of orchid books

Two private libraries, Benjamin Singer’s (which he donated to the American Orchid Society) and Joseph Arditti’s (its future is yet to be decided, it may be donated to an academic or scientific institutions or sold), served as primary sources for this list. However other sources were also used. The use of multiple sources increased the number of books which are listed but may have introduced errors or imperfections for following reasons. One and the same book may have been listed under different names erroneously. Names of authors may have been misspelled. When books have more than one author, the order of authors may have been presented differently in different lists and/or one or more names may have been omitted, added or misspelled. A book may have been published under different names in more than one country. Books are sometimes published by one publisher in one country and another in a different one. Spelling errors in different lists Translations Different editions Lack of information Conventions used in spelling names like “de” and “van.” Erroneous assumptions regarding Chinese surnames. The Chinese traditions is to list surname first, as for example, Yam Tim Wing which may end up incorrectly as Wing, Y. T. in some lists compiled in the West and correctly as T. W. Yam in others. Only the last names of some authors are listed. Some entries listed as books may in fact be no more than reprints. Several lists did not provide all relevant information about a book (dates of publication and names of publishers, for example). In some cases we could check the accuracy or a listing and make appropriate corrections or find missing information and add it. However in many instances this was not possible and listings are incomplete. When what seemed to be the same book appeared under several “identities” in different sources all are included in this list because we deemed multiple listings preferable to omission. On the whole this list is far from perfect, but it we hope that it will prove to be useful.