Synopses & Reviews
This magnificently illustrated peopleand#8217;s history celebrates the extraordinary feats of cultivation by the working class in Britain, even if the land they toiled, planted, and loved was not their own. Spanning more than four centuries, from the earliest records of the laboring classes in the country to today, Margaret Willes's researchand#160;unearths lush gardens nurtured outside rough workersand#8217; cottages and horticultural miracles performed in blackened yards, and reveals the ingenious, sometimes devious, methods employed by determined, obsessive, and eccentric workers to make their drab surroundings bloom. She also explores the stories of the great philanthropic industrialists who provided gardens for their workforces, the fashionable rich stealing the gardening ideas of the poor, alehouse syndicates and fierce rivalries between vegetable growers, flower-fanciers cultivating exotic blooms on their city windowsills, and the rich lore handed down from gardener to gardener through generations. This is a sumptuous record of the myriad ways in which the popular cultivation of plants, vegetables, and flowers has playedand#151;and continues to playand#151;an integral role in everyday British life.
Review
"[Willes]andnbsp;tackles her subject with considerable learning and with a gusto atypical of a scholarly volume. . . . There's a wealth of information here."and#8212;Publishers Weekly
Review
"A handsome, richly illustrated ramble through the history of book buying. . . . This is a charming book, full of digressionsand#8212;biographical and historical nuggets aboundand#8212;but it is also clearly the fruit of a remarkable range and depth of research."and#8212;Peter Walpole,
Virginia Quarterly ReviewReview
". . . . This is a fascinating book for anyone with a touch of bibliomania. . . . Much of the information is relevant to book lovers and librarians everywhere. After reading this book, you'll never think of book ownership in quite the same way again."and#8212; Academia
Review
and#8220;. . . enchanting and delightful. . . . Willesand#8217;s diligent and skillful research in a wide range of archives is demonstrated on every page. . . . [C]aptivating; it is at once both instructive and entertaining. Anyone who loves books and their history will love Reading Matters.and#8221; and#8212; Peter H. Reid,
Library and Information HistoryReview
and#8220;Willes, who was a publisher for the National Trust, is a true bibliophile who has undertaken an ambitious piece of research that will be invaluable to students of gardens and their history.and#8221;and#8212;Rosie Atkins, History Today
Review
and#8220;and#8230;..all can enjoy the illuminating way Willes puts gardens into context.and#8221;and#8212;Gardens Illustrated
Review
and#8220;Avoid the glut of picture books that blossom at this time of year for this serious study of the social life of the English garden. It will fascinate serious horticulturalists with its explanation of the how the country had already undergone a radical revolution in gardening before the 18th century, which so many thought was its heyday.and#8221;and#8212;Country and Town House Magazine
Review
andlsquo;andhellip;in this wonderfully rich study, Margaret Willes reveals the forgotten history of Britainandrsquo;s working-class horticulturalistsandrsquo;andmdash;PD Smith, the Guardian.andnbsp;
Synopsis
Spanning four centuries, Margaret Willes's vibrant people's history examines the myriad ways that the popular cultivation of plants, vegetables, and flowers has played an integral role in everyday British life for more than four centuries.
Synopsis
It is easy to forget in our own day of cheap paperbacks and mega-bookstores that, until very recently, books were luxury items. Those who could not afford to buy had to borrow, share, obtain secondhand, inherit, or listen to others reading. This book examines how people acquired and read books from the sixteenth century to the present, focusing on the personal relationships between readers and the volumes they owned. Margaret Willes considers a selection of private and public libraries across the periodand#8212;most of which have survivedand#8212;showing the diversity of book owners and borrowers, from country-house aristocrats to modest farmers, from Regency ladies of leisure to working men and women.
Exploring the collections of avid readers such as Samuel Pepys, Thomas Jefferson, Sir John Soane, Thomas Bewick, and Denis and Edna Healey, Margaret Willes also investigates the means by which books were sold, lending fascinating insights into the ways booksellers and publishers marketed their wares. For those who are interested in books and reading, and especially those who treasure books, this book and its bounty of illustrations will inform, entertain, and inspire.
Synopsis
The people and publications at the root of a national obsession
Synopsis
In the century between the accession of Elizabeth I and the restoration of Charles II, a horticultural revolution took place in England, making it a leading player in the European horticultural game. Ideas were exchanged across networks of gardeners, botanists, scholars, and courtiers, and the burgeoning vernacular book trade spread this new knowledge still furtherand#8212;reaching even the growing number of gardeners furnishing their more modest plots across the verdant nation and its young colonies in the Americas.
Margaret Willes introduces a plethora of garden enthusiasts, from the renowned to the legions of anonymous workers who created and tended the great estates. Packed with illustrations from the herbals, design treatises, and practical manuals that inspired these menand#8212;and occasionally womenand#8212;Willes's bookand#160;enthrallingly charts how England's garden grew.
About the Author
Margaret Willes, the former Publisher for the National Trust, has written and illustrated numerous books. She lives in London.