The sensational secret history of the wild flower from the Asian steppes that became a world-wide horticultural sensation. Roaming through Asia, India, Russia and the Ottoman Empire, tulipomaniac Pavord records the flower's journey from its humble beginnings in Turkey to its position as one of the world's most popular and meaningful blooms. The hardback edition of this title was one of the biggest publishing successes of 1999 with sales of over 35,000 copies and it looks like Tulipomania is here again... "Promises to do for tulips what "Longitude" did for clocks and "Fermat's Last Theorem" did for maths" "The Observer".