Designing and Renovating Larger Gardens by Douglas Coltart

Designing and Renovating Larger Gardens by Douglas Coltart lands on the shelves of my shop.

Portland: Timber Press, Inc., 2007, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Colour Photographs; Diagrams; Tables; Plans;

From the cover: Designing a large garden may seem overwhelming at first, but with careful planning and a dash of creativity any gardener can achieve a beautiful and highly manageable space. Whether you are designing your own garden or working with a landscape designer, success lies in addressing the unique but wholly surmountable challenges that affect larger gardens.

In this unprecedented guide to designing and renovating gardens of one third of an acre or more, Douglas Coltart begins by recommending a careful review of the property to identify its unique qualities. Drawing upon his professional experience as an award-winning landscape designer, he goes on to describe fundamental ground rules for larger gardens, such as anchoring the garden into the surrounding landscape, making the most of arrival space, creating focal points, scaling up, and linking individual elements to form a unified whole. Maintenance is a key issue in larger gardens so techniques for minimizing the weekly workload are particularly valuable. Using diagrams, illustrations and case studies, the author recounts triumphs (and tribulations) from his personal projects and supplements the advice with photographs of large gardens from all over the world. The final section suggests appropriate plants for specific sites and purposes including groundcovers for sloping banks, plants for woodlands and shelterbelts, and trees for use in framing views or as focal points.

With its clear identification of the key issues affecting larger gardens, this innovative design manual provides inspiration and practical guidance for anyone seeking to design, renovate or manage more expansive properties.

Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper. Dust wrapper very slightly rubbed at the edges otherwise a very well presented copy.

Black boards with Silver titling to the Spine. 160 pages. Index. 10¾” x 7¾”.

Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!

Furniture by Edward Joy

Furniture by Edward Joy lands on the shelves of my shop.

The Connoisseur, 1972, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Jacket illustration: Chair, carved rosewood, inlaid with engraved brass, seat covered with contemporary needlework. English; 1735-40. Illustrated by way of: Colour Photographs; Black & White Drawings;

From the cover: The development of furniture in the Western world through the centuries, from medieval times to the present day, with special emphasis on the great periods of the English and French designers and craftsmen. Hundreds of drawings and eight pages of colour photographs.

THE CONNOISSEUR ILLUSTRATED GUIDES are designed to help collectors overcome the basic problems of how to identify an object within its likely period and style, and to make a reasonable judgment on its comparative quality. Therefore the types of objects illustrated range from those that are commonly available, to those that can be seen in a museum or house open to the public.

Through the use of drawings, salient general features have been emphasised for easier recognition. The objects chosen range through the centuries and include not only those of British origin, but also many others from overseas whose design has either influenced, or been influenced by, our own products. Specially selected representative pieces are pictured in colour photographs. The illustrations combine to form a visual index showing the continuing evolution of design and the developing use of techniques and materials. Introductions and factual text give all the relevant background information, and there is a list of books for further reading and a full index.

No book can be a substitute for experience, but the aim of this series is to encourage collectors to develop more confidence in their own judgment.

In the Connoisseur Illustrated Guides series.

Very Good in Good Dust Wrapper. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper with a small scrape to the foot of the upper panel. Price Clipped. Edges of the text block lightly tanned. Previous owners’ inscription to the first blank.

Green boards with Gilt on Purple Title Plate titling to the Spine. 226 pages. Index. Bibliography. 8¾” x 6¼”.

Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!