A Little History of British Gardening - Hardcover

Uglow, Jennifer

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0701169281 ISBN 13: 9780701169282

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 2004

Synopsis

342p hardback, maroon cloth with illustrated white jacket, very good condition, jacket spine sunned, binding firm, pages clean and neat, illustrations very clear and bright, a very good copy

About this title

About the Author

Jenny Uglow is the author of biographies of Elizabeth Gaskell and William Hogarth (both shortlisted for the Whitbread) and most recently, The Lunar Men, winner of the PEN International Prize for history and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

From Publishers Weekly

Uglow, who won the PEN International Prize for History for Lunar Men, turns her attention from English inventors and scholars to English gardens. Her aim is modest, she writes, "a quest to uncover the gardens, plots and people of Britain in the past," and with this, she wonderfully captures the gardening of both the poor and the elite. She cleverly arranges her history into four parts that follow the stages of a growing plant: "Seed," "Leaf," "Flower," "Fruit." It was the Romans, she explains, who, seeing little outside of wheat and cattle farms, "created our first plant-filled spaces intended purely for enjoyment." In the second part, she brings to light the gardening style and culture of the Jacobeans ("by now gardening was so entwined with courtly culture"); in "Flower," she appropriately discusses Victoriana; and in the final part, she brings gardening up to the 20th century. Highlighting this beautifully written history are lovely reproductions of historic etchings, calendars, books, stained glass and drawings of garden plans in both b&w and color.
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Edition details

• Publisher: Chatto & Windus
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0701169281
• ISBN 13: 9780701169282
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 342