Little Flower-People

Boston: Ginn and Company, Publishers, 1899. Hardcover. Good +. Hardcover. "Come and sit down here beside me. I have a most charming secret to tell you. Every — little — flower — that — grows — is — just — as — much — a — living — talking — being — as — you — or — I. Isn't this a lovely secret to know?" This imaginative 1887 guide to flowers is the work of Gertrude Elisabeth Hale of Ithaca, New York, who as a young girl had dreamed of writing a book that would weave elementary facts about flower-life "in and out of a thin warp of fancy," in the hopes of awakening an interest in floriculture among all ages. Little Flower-People is Hale's achievement of that dream. In these pages, gnomes and elves, fairies and talking flowers intermingle with botanical vocabulary lists and scientific diagrams and illustrations. Speaking to the academic value of the work, Hale was assisted in gathering specimens for this book by the botanist William R. Dudley (1849-1911), then professor at Cornell University and later founder of Dudley Herbarium at Stanford University. This 1887 fanciful and factual guide to floriculture is as delightful as it is informative and comes illustrated throughout in 29 figures, several of which are full-page, and photographic frontispiece.

Chapters include: Introduction, The Flower Servants, The Flower Mistress and Her Seeds, The Composites and Grasses, The Elfin Ferns, and The Brownie Scouring Rushes.

7 3/8" X 5 1/2". 85pp. Bound in full light blue cloth over boards, with flowers stamped in black to upper board, lettered in gilt to upper board and black to spine. Mild edgewear to binding, with rubbing to extremities, spot of discoloration to spine, light scattered rubbing, and small tears to corners and head and tail of spine. Front hinge a touch tender; binding remains quite firm and sound. Small neat tear, taped, to leaf of pages 27 and 28. Very occasional blemish to gently age-toned pages, else clean and unmarked. Illustrated throughout in 29 figures, several of which are full-page, and photographic frontispiece.