Best Book on Seed-Saving?

Can anyone recommend a really comprehensive book on seed-saving, that I can buy as a reference? I do understand the real beginner stuff, like how to know if seeds are mature, how to dry them out, etc. What I really want is a reference where I can look up how different plants are pollinated, which plants will cross-pollinate (for example, the complexities of the gourd family). Or how many plants of a particular variety you should grow to prevent too much inbreeding (think that is a thing, right?). Or other good seed-saving info that I don't even know about because I am only just starting to think about it.  I'd also love to learn more about landraces; not sure if that info would be in a seed-saving book.

For some reason, I just really hate looking things up on the internet every time I have a question. I really prefer books than looking at a screen so much, even though there is so much great info online, especially on this site.

My main goal, is to be able to save seeds from my own garden so don't have to buy them anymore, and also to grow out starts to sell, and to know that those varieties I am selling will grow into what I think they are. A second, good goal, would be growing plants that over time become better adapted to my area.

As an example, I recently bought a packet of Thai Lavender Frog Egg Eggplant seeds. I partially justified it by thinking I could grow some of the seeds in my garden and use the rest to grow starts to sell. I figure it's one of those odd, cute varieties that plant-addicts like myself would have a hard time resisting buying a $2 start or two, just to try out. But I neglected to notice, until it arrived, that this $4 packet of seeds only contains about 20 seeds. I am not complaining; I love the seed company I got it from, and this is how they stay in business. But if I can grow out some of those plants in my garden this year, save some seeds, and turn that $4 seed packet into a few hundred starts that I can sell next year, well, that would be great. Which led me to researching how likely it would be for these eggplants to cross-pollinate with my other eggplant variety I will be growing (my all-time favorite, Listada di Gandia), which led me to wondering, for the hundredth time, if I could possibly find a good book that I could just look things like this up in.

Haha, well, as soon as I posted this question, this thread about the book "Seed to Seed" appeared on my side-bar https://permies.com/wiki/46889/Seed-Seed-Suzanne-Ashworth and seems to answer my question. Unless anyone knows of a better book for my purposes that they would recommend?

https://permies.com/wiki/51209/Breed-Vegetable-Varieties-Carol-Deppe

Seed to Seed is what I would have suggested

I have the Seed to Seed book and it has a lot of useful information.

But, Landrace Gardening by Joseph Lofthouse (http://www.lofthouse.com) was a game changer for me, especially since I have always saved seed of my favorite plants like tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. My plan is to save all my own seed to develop locally adapted plants.

I would suggest both a book like https://permies.com/wiki/51209/Breed-Vegetable-Varieties-Carol-Deppe and  https://permies.com/wiki/162247/Landrace-Gardening-Joseph-Lofthouse. Carol's book gives in depth information about conventional vegetable breeding, with the detail you want on keeping crosses that you want etc. and Joseph's book will show you how easy it should be to create your own landrace vegetable varieties. he does go into a fair amount of detail on several species so you may find his book enough.
I've been investing in seeds to start my landrace experiments and as you say the costs of seeds can quickly mount up.

I had high hopes for "Seed to Seed", but after reading it, I was not very impressed. The info for the seeds that I alteady knew how to save wasn't very good, which made me doubt the advice for other seeds, and it was not an interesting read at all.

On the other hand, I highly recommend the two Nancy and others have  mentioned above, specifically "Landrace Gardening" by Joseph. It's a very fun read packed with super interesting and novel information, wish I had read it 10 years ago!

Steve Thorn wrote: On the other hand, I highly recommend the two Nancy and others have  mentioned above, specifically "Landrace Gardening" by Joseph. It's a very fun read packed with super interesting and novel information, wish I had read it 10 years ago!

I also agree about both Joseph and Carol's books.

I have read only good things about them.

Joseph has been an asset to the forum as I learned a lot from him.

Thank you very much, everyone! I now have all 3 of those books on my wish list and just have to decide which to buy now, and which to hopefully buy later. I wish I had the funds to buy all 3. I am also considering the book "The complete guide to saving seeds : 322 vegetables, herbs, flowers, fruits, trees, and shrubs", which one Amazon reviewer said contained more detailed information than "Seed to Seed".

"The complete guide to saving seeds : 322 vegetables, herbs, flowers, fruits, trees, and shrubs" is the only book on seed-saving available at my public library, so I can at least borrow it when I am there next week to see if it fits my purposes and is worth buying.

Thank you again! I always learn so much here.

If I could only buy one, it would be Landrace Gardening. Seed to seed would be beneficial if you plan to sell pure strains of seed, but for home gardening and seed saving, Josephs book is my favorite. It comes down to how much detail you really need or want. I think you'll learn a lot from any of them though.

Thanks! From everything I have read about these books, I agree.