In fin de siecle France, orchid rearing was something of an obsession, and Emile Libreck commissioned artist Brun to paint his rare specimens. The paintings, bound in leather volumes, have been shown only twice since the 1950s. Fifty-nine of Brun's watercolors are beautifully reproduced in this oversized (10.25x13") volume, each captioned in some detail by Phillip Cribb (curator of the orchid herbarium at the [British] Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew). In an illustrated essay, Cribb explains the background of the art of orchid cultivation, and the cutthroat competitiveness of orchid collecting. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.