Wild Flowers

A blue day-flower opens in the morning; by afternoon, its petals have wilted into a shapeless mass that leaves sticky blue stains on your fingertips. What could happen in the space of a single day?

In Wild Flowers, Neltje Blanchan takes readers through meadows, woods, shady lanes, and the edges of ponds, following blooms from spring into autumn. Writing in the late nineteenth century, she pairs close botanical observation with the bustling visits of bees and flies: a flower’s shape, color, and timing may all help secure its next generation. Some blossoms offer a bee footholds; others arrange pollen and stigmas with astonishing precision. Each entry makes the familiar wildflower a small drama of adaptation and dependence. Look closely at the next flower you meet: what has it prepared for its visitors—and what will they carry away?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.