Gardening

New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966. 14 volumes + Index - The Northeastern States (2 vols), The Southeastern States (2 vols), Texas (2 vols), The Southwestern States (3 vols), The North-western States (2 vols), The Central Mountains and Plains (3 vols), Index (1 vol]. Superbly illustrated with colour photographs throughout, large quarto, the very slightest signs of wear, slight foxing to the top and fore-edges, otherwise a very good ex-library set, with very discrete shelf numbers at the base of the spines, labels on the half-titles and facIng pages, a number on the verso of each title page, but no other markings. New York 1966-onwards. [Still an absolutely stunning work, and very useful, even in today's internet age.] [Very heavy, and postal surcharges will apply. For sale in UK only - it will NOT be practical to post this overseas.] . Cloth. Very Good.

London: Alfred A. Knopf, 1927. Slim quarto, pp (46), age-toned, cloth with paper title label on upper cover, the spine head slightly torn otherwise a good copy, in a slightly worn and frayed age-toned dustwrapper. Signed by Fothergill on the title page. [The content is slender - comprising pages arranged by colour, with a seasonal grid layout containing names of herbaceous plants and their heights. There is ample space for an owner to add their own records and selections. With a pencilled inscription on the front endpaper from Leslie Banks - possibly the 1930's actor ? ] { John Fothergill, diarist and proprietor of the Spread Eagle in Thame in the 1920s and 30s, is probably one of the fore-runners of Basil Fawlty. He bristled with disapproval at all times. Among those on his hate list were shop girls, undesirables, bounders, salesmen, haughty females, people who only wanted to use the loos, people who only wanted to look at the garden, people who only dropped in to shelter from the rain and -… Read More

Vaduz: J. Cramer, 1984. Illustrated with 247 simple botanical plates from line drawings, thick folio, pp 534, a very good copy in original green cloth. [Very heavy - extra postage may be required]. First Edition. Cloth. Very Good.

Beijing: Science Press, 1986. Very well illustrated, large quarto, pp viii, 346, lower corners bumped throughout, otherwise clean internally, green cloth with similar bruising, the dustwrapper is very slightly worn. A duplicate from the RHS Lindley Library with their label and stamp on the front endpapers, a tiny stamp on the title page and on the edges. Very scarce. . First Edition. Cloth. Good/Good.

Weinheim: J. Cramer, 1966. Facsimile reprint. Three vols thick octavo, + one volume folio, pp xiv, 574; xl, 312, 378; cxxviii, 360, 422; + 528 plain illustrations, one small mark to the fore-edge of Volume III, otherwise a very good clean set weighing over 7 kilos before packing. EXTREMELY SCARCE [The Ross expedition was a voyage of scientific exploration of the Antarctic in 1839 to 1843, led by James Clark Ross, with two unusually strong warships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. It explored what is now called the Ross Sea and discovered the Ross Ice Shelf. On the expedition, Ross discovered the Transantarctic Mountains and the volcanoes Erebus and Terror, named after his ships. The Joseph Dalton Hooker made his name on the expedition. The expedition inferred the position of the South Magnetic Pole, and made substantial observations of the zoology and botany of the region. The expedition was the last major voyage of exploration made wholly under sail. Among the expedition's biological discoveries… Read More

Paris: Lucien Laveur, 1903. Quarto, pp 130, (6), + 60 colour chromolithograph plates on thick stippled paper, the text pages uncut and unopened, the plates with a facing protective page containing the name (these facing page are a bit aged and browned and fraying at the edges,, the plates are still clean, sound and unmarked), all pages are loose as issued in this form, in an original green folder with silver lettering, slightly worn and marked, and lacking the upper ties (of three). A duplicate from the Royal Horticultural lLndley Library, this copy being the Reginald Cory bequest copy, with two labels on the front endpaper, but no other markings. [Cory had a passion for plants and botany and in the early 1930s he undertook a number of plant hunting expeditions, and commissioned others, some of the results of which are exhibited at Dyffryn. He would also share plants with other gardens, including the Cambridge Botanic Garden. Amongst other features, the gardens bear evidence of his trips to Italy.… Read More

London: Groombridge & Sons, 1857. Second edition. Small thick xvi, octavo, pp 508, + 2 page publisher's advertisements, all edges gilt, clean and sound internally, ornate gilt decorated publisher's binding, (a "signed" binding, initialled by John Leighton), a little rubbed and worn, slightly worn at the corners, the spine slightly more worn and a little faded, neatly re-cased with original spine laid down, strengthened at the head and tail, new endpapers. Illustrated with six fine colour plates, an extra colour title page, and many engravings throughout the text, all printed and engraved by Benjamin Fawcett of Driffield. {Garden ornaments, the rockery, the aviary, the marine and fresh-water aquarium, floral ornaments for the table. the pleasure garden, the flower garden, the rockery, the fernery, the apiary, the Wardian case, other garden embellishments.]The second edition was considerably enlarged. The epitome of Victorian suburban extravagance.]. First Edition. Decorative… Read More

London: John Murray, 1847. Second edition. Illustrated, a map, an extra engraved title page, three tinted lithograph plates, several small text engravings, octavo, pp xxiv, (ii), 420, (2), + publisher's catalogue of 16 pages, the frontispiece and the first title are a little age-toned, otherwise a clean tight copy internally, original cloth slightly marked and very slightly worn, neatly rebacked with a brown leather spine. Very good. [This second edition was a little enlarged].. Second edition. Quarter leather. Very Good.

London: William Wesley & Son, 1914. Large octavo, pp (iv), 364, endpapers age-toned, otherwise very clean internally, brown buckram a little faded and scuffed, but still a very good copy. RARE. [A very detailed account. From the library of the botanist C.E. Hubbard, with his signature on the front endpaper; an early acquisition at the age of 21.]. First Edition. Buckram. Very Good.

St James's Street, London: John Harding, 1810. A new edition, improved, by Samuel Curtis. Illustrated with eight hand-coloured plates, octavo, pp viii, 271, very light occasional foxing or age-toning, but overall very clean internally, the printing of the title page slightly faint in places, half calf and marbled boards, rubbed, the spine dull with faint lettering, slightly worn at its head. Bookplate of Sir Edward W. Watkin. [Covers the Hyacinth, Tulip, Ranunculus, Anemone, Auricula, Carnation, Polyanthus, and Bulbous-rooyed Plants. Blanche Henrey 1003.]. Limited edition. Half Leather. Good.

London: The Hand & Flower Press, 1949. Illustrated with twenty delightful etched plates, each one signed in pencil by Betty Shaw-Lawrence, small quarto, pp 90, (2), a decorated title page engraved by Alfred Richard Lane, top edge gilt, the other edges untrimmed, half-morocco and boards, a slight fading to the spine, otherwise a very good copy. Limited edition of 260 copies numbered and signed, printed at the Ditchling Press - this one being number 12. [From the library of the Kew botanist Vicki Matthews. with her bookplate in her married name - Victoria and Brinsley Burbidge. Also with the earlier bookplate of Rae Wilson, designed by J. Younger.]. First Edition. Half-Leather. Very Good. Illus. by Betty Shaw-Lawrence.

Zurich: Speich, 1976. Two volumes. Text volume - small quarto, pp 127, a very clean copy. The box folder - with 80 fine watercolour plates, 6 black and white plates and a coloured map all in very good condition, the folding bcloth box is foxed, and with a small tear at the top of the spine. A heavy set - extra postage may be necesary.. First Edition. Cloth. Good.

Munchen: Spektrum, 2005. Large octavo, not illustrated, pp xviii, 555, errata slip loosely inserted, very clean internally, strong pictorial boards, a very good bright copy. . First Edition. Boards. Very Good.

Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells, 1949. Large octavo, pp 338, a very occasional light and discrete pencil note in a margin, otherwise incredibly clean internally, paperback, the covers in very good condition. RARE - a fine copy. [Macer Floridus is the alleged pseudonym of Odo de Meung, a French cleric and physician who lived during the 11th century and was the presumed author of the herbal poem De Viribus Herbarum (On the properties of plants). The use of "Macer" alludes to the Roman poet, Aemilius Macer (16 B.C.), who authored a poem on remedies for those afflicted with wounds from poisonous serpents. The herbal, commonly referred to as the Macer Floridus, was written in Latin hexameter verse and presented the medicinal uses of plants. The rhyming verse aided doctors and apothecaries in memorizing medicinal recipes and treatments, which made the herbal popular among those who practiced medicine during the Middle Ages. The Macer Floridus is recognized as a signal of revival in botanical… Read More

George Yard, Lombard Street: William Phillips Published 1803 - 1804. First Issue. Thee volumes, well illustrated with an engraved portrait frontispiece and 119 hand coloured plates, [as usual the plates are erratically bound but all are present], all edges gilt in Volume 2, bound in modern blue cloth with only very slight signs of use. Despite the rather plain binding, the contents are, overall, in remarkably bright condition. There is a little offsetting of plate on to text, and occasionally of text on to plate, but there are only six plates where this is really noticeable (and of these plate 91 is rather poor). In Volume 1 the second plate is bound slightly on a skew so that the margin protrudes slightly at the top and fore-edge; in Volume 2 a number of the descriptive leaves are bound together at the end rather than opposite the plate they describe. Volume 3 concludes with Thortnon's "Sketch of the Life and Writings of the Late Mr William Curtis, 33 pages. Ignoring the minor oddities of… Read More