An Island Garden by Celia Thaxter - 1904

This is an early copy of "AN ISLAND GARDEN" by Celia Thaxter. 1904 2nd edition; Houghton, Mifflin and Company; Boston and New York. The book is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of Thaxter, and a full-page plate of the "Plan of Garden with List of Flowers."

"When (Thaxter) was four, her father became the lighthouse keeper on White Island in the Isles of Shoals. After resigning his post eight years later, he build a resort hotel on Appledore Island in Maine. The first of its kind on the New England coast, the hotel became a gathering place for writers and artists during the latter half of the 19th century. In her last year of life, Celia published this work, in which she lovingly describes her Appledore garden and its flowers. The flowers she grew in her cutting garden filled her own rooms and those of the hotel, and this work became famous for its descriptions of the old-fashioned flowers she grew there."

Condition:
Clean covers and spine; bright gilt lettering on the spine; sharp corners. Tight binding with no loose pages. There is an insignificant crack at the front hinge before the frontispiece (despite the crack, the front cover is firmly attached and is not at all shaky). Nice condition interior - the pages are clean with only a small stain at the outer margin of page 42, tanning between the dedication and publisher's note pages (from a slip of paper left between them), and an old name written in pen on the front end paper. Overall the book is in very good condition.