Thomas Pakenham SIGNED The Remarkable Baobab Tree Madagascar Africa Flora Trees

Description: The Remarkable Baobab by Thomas PakenhamPRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED AND SIGNED TWICE BY THE AUTHOR - at the top of the half-title page he has written: "For Catherine & Philip with best wishes from Thomas" and then on the title page, he has simply signed his name (without dedication); Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2004 1st ed, 144pp., text generally in decent order, very slight rubbing to board corners at the bottom & also very slight bumping to top of rear board, very slight bumping & rubbing to top & bottom of spine, the price-clipped dust jacket is a bit rubbed & creased at top & bottom - most noticeably at the top of the inside blurb front & rear - with some internal staining - & some minute tears at the top of both covers with some marks & scratches (barely visible) to both covers.All trees are fascinating both from a biological point of view and a geometric one. But there can be no tree on Earth that holds as muchfascination as the baobab. The author of this book clearly holds the same opinion, and with his commentary and the beautiful photos, takes readers on a journey that is the next best thing to the enviable journeys that the author has taken for real. One could only imagine the awesome and humbling feeling one would get standing in the presence of the baobab, with reports of the girth sometimes reaching 77 feet.But the author also reminds us that the beautiful can also be practical, as he describes the baobab as being a "godsend to the poor": its flowers and foliage can be eaten as fresh salad, and its bark can be made into roof tiles or rope.With six species living in Madagascar and the other two in Africa and Australia, the author gives brief explanations as to why they exist inregions thousands of miles apart. Some of these reasons are anecdotal, with the author favouring one based on the mobility of their seedpods.The future of the baobab is probably at the same level of certainty as other flora occupying their same habitats. The author addresses itssurvivability in the book. Maybe the techniques of genetic engineering can assist in their survivability in environments in which they are not custom. Whatever techniques are used, it is imperative that the baobab be encouraged to flourish. Its beauty alone gives it infinite utility.Thomas Francis Dermot Pakenham, 8th Earl of Longford (born 14 August 1933), known simply as Thomas Pakenham, is an Anglo-Irish historian and arborist who has written several prize-winning books on the diverse subjects of African history, Victorian and post-Victorian British history, and trees. Pakenham was educated at Belvedere College, a secondary school in Dublin, and Magdalen College, Oxford. After graduating in 1955, he travelled to Ethiopia, a trip which is described in his first book The Mountains of Rasselas. On returning to Britain, he worked on the editorial staff of The Times Educational Supplement and later for The Sunday Telegraph and The Observer. He divides his time between London and County Westmeath, Ireland, where he is the chairman of the Irish Tree Society and honorary custodian of Tullynally Castle.Will ship by Royal Mail 1st Class Signed for, well packaged.(£5.55/josipovici) Track Page Views WithAuctiva's Counter

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