SEEDS OF CHANGE, FIVE HUNDRED YEARS SINCE COLUMBUS

Herman J. Violsa and Carolyn Margolis, Smithsonian Institute large format soft cover issue, 1991.

Before 1492, sugarcane was unknown in the Americas and potatoes and corn were foreign to Europe. Neither smallpox or measles existed in the New World, nor did horses or cattle yet roam the plains and pampas of North and South America. Bountifully illustrated, Seeds of Change traces Old and New World exchanges of sugar, maize, potatoes, wine, horses and other common plants and animals as well as disease, over the course of five hundred years. The seeds – introduced sometimes deliberately, sometimes unintentionally, by Christopher Columbus and those who followed him – took root across the globe, unleashing radical forces of cultural, biological, and environmental change.

Apart from the small, minor corner turns that are usual with soft covers, the bottom rear being a little larger at 6 x 3 cm, the book is in very nice condition, clean and tightly bound. A truly excellent book, you will not be able to put this one down! It is a heavy one though so parcel or surface post might be the order of the day.