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!

The Illustrated Portrait of Wiltshire by Pamela Street

The Illustrated Portrait of Wiltshire by Pamela Street lands on the shelves of my shop.

Robert Hale, 1986, Hardback in dust wrapper.

New edition. [First Published: 1971] Jacket illustration: Old Sarum. Illustrated by way of: Black & White Photographs; Black & White Drawings; Signed by the author on the title page unverified and reflected as such in the lack of premium.

From the cover: One of the most popular of the Portrait scries, Pamela Streets book has been reprinted and revised twice since its original publication in 1971. In this new edition the revised text has been enhanced with specially commissioned line drawings and is now presented in a larger, more generous format. Additional photographs have been included, many of which have been selected for their historical value to show how familiar, well-loved places have changed over the decades.

Pamela Streets evocative text is written with affection and deep personal knowledge of the people with whom she grew up and the land where her father, A. G. Street, farmed for nearly fifty years. With a natural sense of belonging, she writes about the countys geology and history, its antiquities and industries, its great country houses and famous sons. But always it is the countryside that she describes most warmly; whether it is the open landscape of Salisbury Plain, the flat remote regions around Malmesbury or the subtle beauty of the Wylye Valley, her attachment to this quiet corner of England is never in doubt.

Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper.

Blue boards with Silver titling to the Spine. 296 pages. Index. 9½” x 6¼”.

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

the illustrated portrait of wiltshire pamela street robert hale 0709025769

the illustrated portrait of wiltshire pamela street robert hale 0709025769 b

DC Confidential by Christopher Meyer

DC Confidential by Christopher Meyer lands on the shelves of my shop.

Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005, Hardback in dust wrapper.

8th impression. [First Edition: 2005] Illustrated by way of: Colour Photographs;

From the cover: Christopher Meyer was Ambassador to the United States from 1997 to 2005, during which time he was an eyewitness to and participant in the events following 9/11 and the preparations for the Iraq war. Never before has there been such a riveting and candid memoir of life behind the diplomatic scenes. Meyers is a very personal chronicle of what he saw, what he heard and how he felt.

Good+ in Good+ Dust Wrapper. Gently bruised at the spine ends and corners with commensurate wear to the dust wrapper, foot of the reverse of the dust wrapper has been tape repaired. Text complete, clean and tight.

Black boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 301 pages. Index. 9½” x 6¼”.

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

Butterfly Watching by Paul Whalley

Butterfly Watching by Paul Whalley lands on the shelves of my shop.

Severn House, 1980, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Black & White Photographs; Facsimiles; Colour Photographs; Black & White Drawings; Colour Drawings;

From the cover: Here is a book for people who enjoy sitting and watching butterflies go about their daily lives, rather than trying to catch them for collections. Collections play an important role in the scientific study of butterflies, but today there is also a need for more observations on butterfly behaviour.

In this book Paul Whalley shows how easy it is to derive pleasure from butterfly watching once you know where to look and what to watch for. He takes us into the field and explains how important it is to record our observations and how this should be done. He suggests many lines of enquiry for the butterfly watcher, and emphasizes the value of amateur observations in filling the gaps in our knowledge of butterfly behaviour. He covers rearing butterflies at home, attracting butterflies to the garden and butterfly conservation. Heather Angel, the well-known natural history photographer, has contributed a section on photographing butterflies, and there are appendices on places to visit, useful addresses and detailed butterfly life-histories. Specially commissioned drawings and over 60 photographs, 25 in colour, illustrate the text.

If you enjoy seeing butterflies alive and free, and you are interested in butterfly natural history and behaviour, this book will give you hours of pleasure and add a new dimension to your butterfly watching.

In the Severn House Naturalist’s Library series.

Very Good in Good Dust Wrapper. Heavily faded at the spine of the dust wrapper. Edges of the text block lightly tanned.

Blue boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 160 pages. Index. Bibliography. 8½” x 5¾”.

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

Dynasty: The Turbulent Saga of the Royal Family from Victoria to Diana by Donald Spoto

Dynasty: The Turbulent Saga of the Royal Family from Victoria to Diana by Donald Spoto lands on the shelves of my shop.

Simon & Schuster, 1995, Hardback in dust wrapper.

Illustrated by way of: Black and White Photographs;

From the cover: The bestselling US author turns his attention to the biggest-selling soap opera of all time: the Royal Family

After a small avalanche of books on this or that member of the contemporary Royal Family, at last we have the entire Windsor tapestry a dramatic, colourful, sometimes poignant, often shocking family history.

DYNASTY is in fact a compelling album of portraits the first book to tell the whole story of the family that has occupied the British throne from the reign of Queen Victoria to the time of Queen Elizabeth II.

Each chapter contains fresh information, gleaned from Royal archives, correspondence files and previously unpublished documents and manuscripts, including never-before-revealed information on the less than Victorian sexual behaviour of Queen Victoria, the true reason for Edward VIIIs decision to quit the throne, and the machinating role the Queen Mother played in tearing the two royal brothers, George VI and Edward VIII, apart.

The current Royals, now no longer the darlings of the press, publicly disgraced, openly fighting their battles under the glare of ferocious publicity, are also scrutinized. Intriguing and sinister patterns of recurrent family behaviour and failings begin to emerge which suggest that the Royal Family is a prisoner of its past as well as an inmate of its current paparazzi jail.

The Windsors are a victim of their own celebrity, with the public and the media always baying for further intimate details of their lives, ever more indignant when those very details reveal that this family is just like any other: riddled with conflict, beset by old family skeletons in the cupboard, struggling to maintain order in the face of chaos. Their story is a dramatic one: crisis and scandal have lurked in the corridors of the House of Windsor ever since Victoria primly announced T will be good. Here is that story told throughout the Royal generations which proves that the best sagas are those which are true.

Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper.

Black boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 474 pages. Index. Bibliography. 9½” x 6¼”.

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