Joan Morgan - The New Book of Apples

CONTENTS

This classic volume is a detailed and wide-ranging history of the apple, and a unique survey of over 2,000 of the worlds apple varieties. The most authoritative work available, The New Book of Apples is essential reading for anyone who appreciates apples and the importance of traditional food.

Beautifully illustrated with 32 water colour paintings by Elisabeth Dowle and now fully revised, The New Book of Apples is the most up-to-date and comprehensive guide to the apple. Moving between continents and cultures, Joan Morgan and Alison Richards celebrate the apples long history as a fresh fruit, in cookery and cider making; they explore its traditional role in medicine and its place in religion and myth; and reveal its little known role in the ornamental garden and its global importance as an international commodity.

The Apple Directory, which makes up the second half of the book, covers the worlds most ancient and most modern varieties and now also contains some 100 new entries. For each variety full tasting notes are given together with essential historical, geographical and horticultural notes.

The New Book of Apples brings alive the fascinating history of one of our oldest and best loved fruits and provides a complete reference guide to over 2,000 varieties.

Joan Morgan is probably the only person alive to have tasted and annotated almost every one of the worlds apple varieties. She is Vice Chairman of the Royal Horticultural Societys Fruit & Vegetable Committee and Chairman of the RHS Fruit Trials Sub-Committee. In recognition of her work, she has been made an Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers and is one of the recepients of The Institute of Horticulture Award for Outstanding Service to Horticulture.

Alison Richards is a former BBC journalist with a special interest in the history of gardens and cookery. Her work has won awards on both sides of the Atlantic and she now lives in Washington DC where she is a writer and broadcaster.

Elisabeth Dowle is the winner of seven Royal Horticultural Society Gold Medals, including one for her apple paintings. She received her formal training at Croydon College of Art, but is a self-taught botanical artist and is now widely sought after. Other books featuring her paintings include The Collins Field Guide to Crops, The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening and The New Oxford Book of Food Plants.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9781448177363

www.randomhouse.co.uk

5 7 9 10 8 6

This revised and updated edition published in 2002 by
Ebury Press, an imprint of Ebury Publishing

A Random House Group Company

First published by Ebury Press in 1993

Text copyright Joan Morgan and Alison Richards 1993 and 2002
Directory copyright Joan Morgan 1993 and 2002
Colour paintings copyright 1993 by Elisabeth Dowle and Joan Morgan

Joan Morgan and Alison Richards have asserted their right to be identified as the authors of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners

The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at:
www.randomhouse.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

To buy books by your favourite authors and register for offers visit www.randomhouse.co.uk

Editors: Irene Slade and Margot Richardson
Designer: David Fordham
Line drawing of apple by Philip Hood

ISBN 9780091883980

BY THE E ARL OF S ELBORNE, KBE, FRS
A PPLE GROWER AND COLLECTOR OF OLD APPLE VARIETIES

THE PUBLICATION OF The New Book of Apples is testimony to the invaluable place that the original Book of Apples occupies in the library of every apple enthusiast, student of our fruit heritage and, indeed, the whole conservation movement both in Britain and further afield. We are all deeply indebted to Joan Morgan and Alison Richards for this magnificent record of our heritage of apples. This book has become the Apple Bible, giving new insight into the numerous and unsuspected ways that the growing and eating of apples has shaped our lives. The culture, countryside and cuisine of lands far beyond our own all bear traces of the importance of apples in making their different histories.

The Book of Apples also brought alive the little-known treasures of Britains National Apple Collection. It highlighted the Collections importance as a genetic resource of great diversity containing over 2,000 living varieties and including long-forgotten garden favourites, local specialities, as well as many varieties discovered and raised overseas. Prized apple varieties from English villages sit proudly beside those that formed the basis of the first orchards in America and Australia. Apples whose ancestry is obscured by centuries can be studied alongside novelties that have been developed for the demands and tastes of the new millennium.

Since The Book of Apples was first published in 1993, I am delighted to say, nurserymens lists have expanded to reflect the burgeoning interest in growing and enjoying more varieties of apples. Regional fruit groups are flourishing and actively seeking out local specialities and encouraging their planting. Conservation orchards are being established not only in Britain, but all over Europe and in America and Australia. Many more people are now looking to buy and appreciate good home-grown produce through local markets, while government and private sponsorship is available for the restoration of lost orchard landscapes and old fruit gardens.

The Book of Apples has become both an indispensable guide and a constant source of inspiration to all those interested in discovering and celebrating the worlds rich apple heritage. The New Book of Apples reflects the new discoveries and developments of the last decade and comes at a time when interest in apples is growing rapidly. The revised Directory has added many fresh details to existing entries and I am pleased to have been able to provide some new information on the old English apple, Ashmeads Kernel. The Directory also includes some 100 new varieties accessed over the last decade; a number of these may appeal to both commercial and amateur growers, as they carry some immunity to disease the key to successful organic cultivation. The directory also reflects the on-going verification work the important task of ensuring that all the varieties are true to name. In this, Joan has collaborated with the Scientific Curators, Imperial College at Wye, to resolve many queries. This painstaking and fascinating work has greatly enhanced the value of the Collection and ensured that