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Extra Features and Video Online FloristsReview.com R E A D O N L I N E 13 All ose Past Issues So, that begs the questions: Where are those 4,600-odd issues? Does anyone have all of them? e answer, surprisingly to many, is " Yes. We do!" Astoundingly, Grant and his publishing successors (of which there have been only eight over the 125 years) had the foresight to preserve every issue ever published. Decade after decade, from one century to the next (to the next), those issues have been lovingly and chronologically bound into beautiful volumes (some 400 of them!), providing a priceless and unparalleled history of the U.S. fl oral industry—the only one of its kind in existence. ose bound volumes, incidentally, will be housed at the offi ces of the American Floral Endowment, in Alexandria, Va., later this year—available for everyone in the fl oral world to peruse, study and become absorbed in. If you visit the AFE offi ces, allot plenty of time—maybe even a couple of days—because this incredible (and addictive) treasury of fl oral history will suck you in for longer than your favorite social media platform does! During my years at Florists' Review, many subscribers have called, written and emailed to say that they have every issue of the magazine since (whenever). I can't tell you how many times that has happened. Florists really do devour FR's contents, from cover to cover, and many of them save their issues for years, if not decades. One such fl orist is the venerable and indefatigable "Energizer bunny" of the fl oral industry—and former FR columnist—Carmen Cosentino, AAF, PFCI, owner of Cosentino's Florist in Auburn, N.Y. Cosentino has owned the shop for 60 years, but it has been in existence for 87 years. Cosentino has subscribed to Florists' Review for the entire 60 years and still has nearly every issue. In addition, he has many years' worth of issues that the previous owner had squirreled away! FR: An Industry Leader from the Beginning As noted earlier, Grant was a forward thinker—in both the publishing and the fl ower industries. For instance, he was well known in all the principal printing and publishing centers across the country as a pioneer in that fi eld, and he was instrumental in developing many of the modern printing processes of the time, including half-tone engraving. In fact, because of Grant, Florists' Review (and its parent company at that time, e Florists' Publishing Company) was one of the fi rst publishing houses in Chicago to utilize it. And it wasn't easy for Grant and his staff : At that time, photos had to be sent to Philadelphia to have the half-tone printing plates made because there were no Chicago engravers that used the process then. Yes, Florists' Review was—and still strives to be—a pioneer in the publishing fi eld—and in the fl oral industry, as well. Grant's early adoption of the half-tone engraving process is the singular reason that we have—preserved forever in the pages of Florists' Review—a photographic record of our industry from the turn of the 20th century, including

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