REF: Irises, a Gardener's Encyclopaedia

I am curious about the following book, the author has a similar book published in '02 as well. Would this make a good pictoral reference for club Iris sales ? Has anyone seen or purchased this book yet ?

Irises: A Gardener's Encyclopediaby Claire AustinSynopsis:A gorgeous encyclopedia with bearded and beardless irises suitable for gardens through a wide variety of zones including hot and dry, temperate and even cold northern climates. Includes irises with particularly striking foliage, scent, patterned falls, and ruffled edges. 1000 color photographs throughout.
I pre-ordered this book from Amazon, and received it last week. I have devoured it almost from cover to cover. It does not go in-depth but then how many people want another Dykes on Iris, Kohlein, or WOR? Like Dave said - it is a great coffee table book. If a picture says a thousand words, there are words by the million in this book. I haven't found any mis-named photos but my experience is not that great, and I haven't dwelt on the many cultivar photos. I think that is the one area where she has overdone it, and it could be called padding, but the sort of padding most people want.
What do you compare it with?
The author's previous book "Iris - the classic bearded varieties" is mainly pretty pictures of the private parts of the iris bloom. Not terribly interesting.
Other books out of the UK? Stebbings was dated even in 1997. I was put off by style of photography with the flower laid on a flat piece of paper. It was not cheap for the size and content.
The RHS Wisley handbooks "Irises" by Linegar & Hewitt is a favourite reference book of mine, and could have been a brilliant book if done in hardback with heaps of glossy photos.
Other books of a similar type?
The 2 that come to mind are Grosvenors "Iris - Flower of the rainbow" from Australia. A great book, but out of print, and out of date with all the older TB cultivars given that it leans heavily towards TB's. Sells for well over $100 if you can find it.
Willian Shear's book "The Gardener's Iris book" Another favourite of mine, and a great book for people starting out in iris. Much more cultural info than the new Austin book. Sells for under $10 US - an insult to the Author if you ask me. Maybe they did just too big a print run?
Recently published books on irises? One wonders why James Parry "Irises" and Theodore James, Jr. [Iris] bothered to put pen to paper.The New Zealand book "Irises" McGeorge & Nicoll, leaves much to be desired compared to it's NZ pre-decessors.
Janice Frizzell's book arrived from amazon in the same box as the Austin book. I have barely glanced at it. Sort of a catalogue that you can't buy from. Price for content - way more expensive than the Austin book.
The book itself - Beautifully laid out, and gramatically well written.
The bearded species are dealt with, in as much as is possible, in their size class, with a chapter devoted to TB, IB, SDB, MTB, etc. I was most impressed by the length and content of the chapters devoted to MTB's, reticulata, duthc, & Scorpiris. I haven't seen so much photographic detail in a book on irises before. Yes it's all available on the net, but books are selling better than ever these days, despite dire predictions early in the electronic revolution.
As far as a reference for club sales - personally I wouldn't want a whole lot of people thumbing through my copy. Use catalogues and the Janice Frizzel book for choice.
Value for money - excellent. It fits the description Chad gives perfectly.
Compared with Claire Austin's previous book - doesn't even begin to compare.
Hope that gives people something to think about.
A good quality iris book doesn't come onto the market that often - I snapped this one up on the pre-order offer from Amazon, and ordered a copy for a friend without even asking her. Will let you know what she thinks :-)

Cheers, Jan (coming up to the end of the TB season in Oz, with Siberians & Spurias just started, and PCI seedlings still partying on till midnight.)

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