Description

Trees have been our companions since time immemorial, influencing our way of thinking and living, and are central symbols of our beliefs. They have shaped our cultures and customs far more profoundly than we modern humans realize.

Who knows that in some Alps regions, it’s not the stork, but the larch that brings babies? Who knows that a hollow baobab can serve as a grave, that the screw pine enabled long sailing voyages, and that famous perfumes are inspired by trees? The country of Brazil owes its name to a tree that Europeans first plundered, and the discovery of the world would likely have taken another course without the search for the legendary spice-trees …

This book is about the trees of the world – known and unknown, familiar, mysterious and exotic, about their distinctive characteristics, their benefit for people, their value and their place in our worldview, about ties, sensuality, and magic.

The volume aims to offer an informative and varied journey across all continents, touching on historical, botanical, and folkloric aspects – sometimes of local significance, sometimes of global scope. Without resorting to stereotypical patterns, the individual contributions tell the stories of the chestnut and frankincense trees, the oak and banyan, the birch, olive tree, eucalyptus, date palm, rubber tree, iroko, or ombú, thus piecing together – almost like a mosaic – a complex picture that seeks to illustrate the enormous diversity of the tree-world and its interrelations with mankind.

312 pages, Hardcover, more than 300 illustrations, photographs, and documents mostly in colour, 17 x 24 cm;
ISBN: 978-3-937107-21-9