Product details:
Hardcover: 1008 pages, 1st edition
Language: Spanish / English
ISBN-13: 978-9977-66-444-6
Dimensions: 34,5 x 28,5 x 6,5 cm / 13.6 x 11.22 x 2.56 in
Weight: 6.4 kg / 14.11 lb
In this book, the word note acquires a whole new meaning, as it presents the orchid watercolors and annotations that Rafael Lucas Rodríguez Caballero, prominent Costa Rican biologist of international renown, made as he studied orchids over the course of several decades. It includes a good portion of the orchid diversity of Costa Rica, with additions from other parts of Central and South America.
Rafael Lucas dissected a broad series of flowers under the microscope, analyzed the diversity in their forms, and presented the results in a technical fashion, with meticulous annotations. But he did this in the form of watercolors, so that examining his notes is to discover a fantastic work of art, in which the specimens acquire life and, often, a three-dimensional aspect. These plates highlight his naturalist’s eye, artist’s sensibility, powers of observation, and technical skills. The result is an analysis of the diversity of forms in orchids that is detailed and precise, but without losing awareness of the “miracle that it is witnessing”.
This book presents over 1000 of his unpublished watercolors, with their corresponding notes of biological interest that he made on the back of each plate, in his own handwriting. In them is data on the variation that occurs within and between species, and also clear are his efforts to identify the plants he studied, an aspect of historical interest. And, after decades of attempts at publishing it, here is the spectacular art of a prodigious student of the fascinating forms of orchids.
Let us join Rafael Lucas and explore the fantastic diversity of orchid forms.
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For any questions, please contact Leonora Rodríguez at rlrcbooks@preferencefunctions.org.
Product details:
Paperback: 218 pages, 1st edition
Language: Spanish
ISBN: 978-9977-66-430-9
Dimensions: 21.59 x 21.59 cm / 8.5 x 8.5 in
Weight: 0.5 kg / 1.1 lb
(Please note this book is currently available only in Spanish.)
To read the biography of Dr. Rafael Lucas Rodríguez Caballero is to explore the life and works of an extraordinary person. A globalist in love with local origins and custom; biologist, artist, and humanist; prodigious illustrator dedicated to science; first-rate researcher that emphasized institution-building; splendid writer focused on verbal teaching. Throughout his career he integrated biology and basic research into general culture, as well as considerations of progress and security.
In telling the story of this formidable man, the book touches on the history of important institutions on which he made a mark, in Costa Rica as well as in the United States: the Organization for Tropical Studies, the International House at the University of California, Berkeley, Lankester Botanical Garden, and the School of Biology of the University of Costa Rica. Each page tries to project his philosophy of integrating science, art, culture, and progress. One of his doctoral professors once remarked that Rafael Lucas had been torn between a career as a biologist and a career as an artist. But the truth is that he never thought he had to choose.
The author of the biography is the son of Rafael Lucas. To write the book was for him a labor of family history and a personal journey, as he was a child when his father died. Along the way he learned many lessons of great worth within and beyond Costa Rica.
* We post books with DHL only.
* We can only use PayPal to handle our credit card sales.
For any questions, please contact Leonora Rodríguez at rlrcbooks@preferencefunctions.org.