Gardening Heresies and Devotions (Signed copy)

Signed by William Bowyer Honey, one of a few copies specially illustrated for friends

Author

Publisher

Printing Details

First edition, first printing. Hardback in dustwrapper. This copy was one of a small number that W B Honey has specially altered for a few friends in which he included the drawings he wished were in the book. The publisher's favoured photographs and these are to be found in a specially created pocket at the rear of the book (this is all explained ion page 13). 22.5 × 14cm, 278pp.

This copy has been signed by W B Honey to F V Morley. Morley (1899–1980), brother of Christopher, was an American mathematician and publishing executive who played an important role at Faber.

From the dustwrapper, "Provocative and unusual, Mr Honey's book will gladden the heart and fortify the preferences of every genuine gardener and garden-lover. For his heresies are heresies of a healthy revolt against false fashions. Take, for instance, his attitude to colour. Colour, he holds, should mean much more than the colour of teh flowers only. Instead of the customary 'blaze of colour', he would have the garden rich in harmonies and contrasts of tone, in which foliage plays its part as well as flowers.

But Mr Honey is a devotee as well as heretic; and his analysis of the characteristic beauties of different plants enriches our own perceptions. He is also a practised gardener; and a practised gardener of the principles which govern good gardening, both in matters of details and of garden design. The scope of the book is wide enough to include essays on fruit-growing, on the choice of apples, and on the aesthetic and other satisfactions to be had from the despised art of vegetable gardening. All these themes are discussed with a seriousness and lucidity that are in refreshing contrast with the hearty facetiousness of the ordinary gardening book."

Condition

The book is in good plus condition, with some light spotting to the prelims and some tanning to the page edges. The dustwrapper is a little rubbed and bumped and has been neatly price-clipped but is now within a protective sleeve.

Sold