I don't know whether Kathy Purdy meant to post her note about Colchicum to the forum or personally to me, but since it got to all, I will reply to all. >Hi, Jane >This got me thinking about a remark you >made quite a while ago, quoted below. You said a monograph on colchicums >exists but has been delayed by lack of funding. Do you have any more >information on this? I am wondering if anything can be done in regards to >the funding problem, such as publishing via print on demand. Has the author >considered submitting the manuscript to Timber Press? The monograph mentioned is by Karen Persson of the Goteborg Botanic Garden. I heard through a third party that it was funding that delayed the publication of this work, which has been in preparation for a number of years, but I am not in contact with Dr. Persson herself. Timber Press no long publishes technical botanical monographs and other specialized works, having decided to concentrate on books of more interest to the general gardener, and thus more likely to be profitable. You can't blame them for that; we're a small demographic. I don't know why this monograph would not be published on demand or posted online. Perhaps there is some requirement in the earlier grant contracts that it be offered in a print version for libraries and other institutions. Some libraries will not purchase books that don't come hardbound; others will shelve softbound ones or bind them in house. And some, especially at universities, purchase very expensive institutional subscriptions to online journals and other paid access sites. (Individuals can subscribe to these too, usually for less than an institution pays, but still quite a bit. For example, when I didn't have free access to the OED through my job, I could subscribe to it for, at the time, $185 a year.) Jane McGary Portland, Oregon, USA