Open almost any page in Roger Yepsen's Apples to find a charming tableau. On the right-hand page is a watercolor painting of an apple, rendered by the author with reverent realism. Facing on the left is a verbal sketch of the apple. These are not long. Several comprise only three sentences. The images float on the white page. The text, though brief, tells the essential things you'd want to know about each variety, including origin, character, and time of peak ripeness. When you are done with one apple, turn the page for another. There are more than a hundred of these. Each page is only six by five inches, so that the two-page spread is the perfect frame for presenting each apple. This catalog of apples and images is buttressed by short chapters, not illustrated, about the history and enjoyment of apples. Yepsen starts with a nod to the broad range of this fruit, and concl
An amateur explores the pomaceous fruit