The Art of Botanical Painting - out of print!!!

The Art of Botanical Painting and The Botanical Palette: Colour for the Botanical Painter are something of a landmark in terms of publications produced by art societies.

• First because they are both art instruction books and were both created with the help of a number of the members of the Society of Botanical Artists.
• Second because they are also both required texts for the Society of Botanical Artist's Distance Learning Diploma Course in Botanical Art.

This post is by way of an advisory. I've learned that The Art of Botanical Painting went out of print in June 2009 and it's now very difficult to get hold of copies.

I'd therefore advise anybody who is thinking of doing the SBA's Diploma Course to get hold of copies of both books as soon as possible otherwise you'll be left with the option of trying to buy a used copy for c.$80 - and that's a value which can only climb higher and higher over time.

I've yet to get confirmation from Harper Collins, the publishers of both books, as to whether or not a reprint is planned. However the page of their website devoted to botanical painting

• does NOT currently list The Art of Botanical Painting as a book in their list,
  
• nor does it indicate a planned reprint. In fact there is complete silence on the topic of this book and it looks as if they never ever produced it!

I completely understand that the book publishing undustry is experiencing a very difficult time at present - especially since the advent of e-books - however I am absolutely amazed that a book like this can be dropped by apublisher. It's not as if it's very old or out of date or that people are not going to want to study to become botanical painters in the future!

It's also especially sad as this is one of the better books about botanical painting. So far as future students of the ever-popular Diploma Course are concerned I can only assume that they are going to have a very frustrating time while they try and locate a copy.

I understand that the Society of Botanical Artists has started to buy back books if and when they can locate them so they can continue to supply the book as a core text while they get through this hiatus.

If you know of any bookshop which has copies please let me know via this post and I will pass the message on.

You can read my review of The Art of Botanical Painting here - Book Review: The Art of Botanical Painting. Tomorrow I'll publish my 2007 review of the Botanical Palette on this blog. It would be very unfortunate if this book suffered the same fate as this is an absolutely unique book,

I do hope something gets sorted out about a reprint. At a time when far too many art instruction books are published which are essentially recycled material which has been dumbed down it would be very frustrating to see a good book going out of print!