The Cottage Garden by Anne Scott-James (1981-03-30) by Scott-James, Anne - 1981-03-30

HARDBACK, SHIPPED FROM THE UK* Edn: 1st.* Imp: 1st.* Date of Publication: 1981* Publisher: Allen Lane ~ Penguin books ltd.* Binding and cover condition: Chestnut brown cloth, gilt title to spine & extensive gilt design to face. No bumps or rubs, absolutely minimal shelf wear. VG++* Jacket condition: Colour illustrated dust wrapper showing a country garden by Helen Allingham, white and red titles to face with black and red titles to spine. NOT PRICE CLIPPED, showing a shelf price of £9.95. Absolutely minimal shelf wear to top edge and to head of spine. Spine very slightly sunned. VG+* Contents condition: PRIVATE COPY NOT EX-LIBRARY. Coloured & illustrated end papers (black on green). Clean, crisp, tight and bright with no reading wear, no marks to text, top-edge slightly dusty, otherwise no visible faults. F.* Illustrations: A number of colour photos, with b/w line drawings and plates within text throughout.* Pages: 142 pp. text. xviii pp., epilogue, appendices, illustration acks & index at rear.* Description: Starting with medieval times the writer shows how a "garden" of a few herbs used for medicinal purposes, together with a few fruit trees grew to become, by Victorian times, a corner of the most idyllic land in all the world. The Victorian cottage garden was unabashedly sentimentalized by poets and artists who would have you believe that the flowers were always blooming and the family was always content. This disguises the truth that a labourers plot of land had to supply vegetables and fruit enough to feed his family, with perhaps a few left over for sale, as well as producing flowers. But the flowers could help the family budget too.* A FINE text copy of the 1st/1st with some minor cover faults in a VG+ dust jacket.*