Books

This category contains the books you can order through this shop. These are titles by Martinus van Lies and a few publications by other authors. Some appear as a printed book sent by post, some are a digital PDF file. Each item states which edition it concerns, how many pages the publication has and in which language the text is written.

What the books are about

The subjects vary, but they touch on each other in many places. Together they give a picture of the authors' work from different angles.

• History: how the subject has developed over the centuries and how it has been written about in different periods.
• Botanical background: general botanical concepts, the classification into families and genera and the origin of scientific names.
• Personal stories: interviews and accounts in which people describe in their own words how they became involved with the subject.
• The author's approach: how his lectures and conversations are structured and which themes recur in them.
• Reference: a publication in catalogue form with an alphabetical overview of names, concepts and sources.

Printed book or PDF file

A printed edition is a physical book with a cover and a glued spine. You order it like any other item and it goes by post. A PDF file contains the same text in digital form. That file is available immediately after payment, without shipping costs and without waiting time. You open it on a computer, tablet, phone or e-reader, you can search the text for words and enlarge the letters. If you still want paper, you print a PDF yourself. With a digital edition the text is identical to the printed version, only the layout may differ slightly.

Format, paper and packaging

The printed titles appear in a common book format, usually around A5. The interior is printed on wood-free paper, the cover on heavier cardboard. Because the spine is glued, the block stays together and no loose sheets come out. If an item lists an ISBN, that is the international number by which an edition can be identified in bookshops and libraries. In the colophon at the front or back you'll find the publisher, the year of publication and the print run. For shipping, a book goes in a cardboard book wrap that folds around the edition, so the corners don't bend in transit. A PDF has no physical packaging. Instead you see the file size and the number of pages, so you know in advance what you're downloading.

Storing and re-reading

A printed book is best kept dry and out of direct sunlight, because paper and cover discolour there over time. Stand it upright on the shelf to keep the spine straight. For a PDF it's best to make your own backup, for example on a second device or in your own storage folder. The file name contains the title, so you can find it again later. The order remains visible in your account, with the date and the edition you chose.

If you want to know in advance how many pages an edition has, in which language it is written or which print run it is, check the item's own page. If your question isn't answered there, contact us and we'll look it up for you.