The book is in excellent condition and is an invaluable resource.

The description of this book fell short. . .actually, it contains color photos of hundreds of plates which were hand made in the original multi-volume set. The original plates were actually thin slices of the real wood, mounted and bound into the book! This edition contains photos of all the plates, and they include a few main cuts of each specimen to show the qualities of the grain. There is as much beauty in wood grains as in any sunset. See for yourself. This volume is very well bound, and comes in one of the best made slipcases I have ever seen.

the wording does not contrast with the color background very well

Very good facsimile of the original, I have 2 Vol set of the 1912 Americian series and although not the "real deal" actual samples, it gives a very good representation of the original. It obviously has more photos of samples than my set but it is very good.