The Greater Perfection: The Story of the Gardens at Les Quatre Vents.

New York, NY W.W. Norton & Company: Hortus Press, 2001. Hardcover First Edition (2001), so stated. First Printing indicated by a complete numerical sequence. INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR. First Edition (2001), so stated. First Printing indicated by a complete numerical sequence. Very Good+ to Near Fine in Very Good+ to Near Fine DJ: The Book shows no discernible signs of wear, nor can we find any cosmetic flaws, but the spine leans ever so slightly while remaining perfectly secure; the text is clean. Free of creased or dog-eared pages in the text. Free of underlining, hi-lighting, notations, or marginalia. Free of any ownership names, dates, addresses, notations, inscriptions, stamps, plates, or labels. A handsome nearly-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing only a single imperfection. Bright and Clean. Corners sharp. Very close to 'As New'. The DJ shows very mild rubbing to the panels; light wear to the extremities with a tiny tear at the top of the front 'hinge'; the price has not been clipped; mylar-protected. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 4to. (11.3 x 9.2 x 1.3 inches). 327 pages. Profusely illustrated with full-page color plates. Forest green cloth over boards. Endpapers decorated with a hand-painted map of the grounds by Nigel Hughes. Language: English. Weight: 67.6 ounces. Hardback with DJ. The story behind the creation of one of the world's most breathtaking public gardens. Les Quatre Vents in Charlevoix County, Quebec, has been acclaimed as the most aesthetically satisfying and horticulturally exciting landscape experience in North America. The garden seamlessly combines elements from the best gardening traditions with the original and the unexpected into a splendid composition that is nevertheless perfectly compatible with its natural surroundings. The Greater Perfection illustrates the delights, diversions, and surprises of these extraordinary gardens. Francis Higginson Cabot, CM CQ (1925 – 2011) was an American financier, gardener and horticulturist. Cabot was appointed chairman of the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx from 1973 to 1976. In 1989, he founded the nonprofit Garden Conservancy, after noting that two-thirds of America's great gardens had been destroyed by development. The Conservancy began with "four acres of giant cactuses, succulents and native species" in Walnut Creek, California, the life's work of gardener Ruth Bancroft. The organization's Open Days program has opened more than three hundred private gardens to the public throughout the United States and has been active in the preservation of seventeen important private gardens for posterity, including the rehabilitation of the gardens at Alcatraz. Cabot became renowned for his personal gardens around the world. His garden in Cold Spring, known as Stonecrop Gardens, was opened to the public in 1992 and is now one of the premier public gardens in the United States, encompassing sixty-three acres. Cabot's private garden in the Charlevoix region of Quebec covers more than 20 acres and is called Les Quatre Vents. He is credited with introducing a number of plants and grasses to North America, including Japanese blood grass. The Greater Perfection: The Story of the Gardens at Les Quatre Vents was the recipient of the 2003 Annual Literature Award of the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries and the Oxford Companion to Gardens referred to as "one of the best books ever written about the making of a garden by its creator." INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR.