Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

With decorations by rex whistler.

Item Description

FIRST EDITION. 8vo. 8 x 5.75 inches. 290 pp. Bound in original green cloth with yellow titles and black block on front board. Lower edge rough cut. Spine sunned and spine title faded; Traces of lower page edge foxing, but otherwise a very good copy. 1935 signature on second free endpaper. Illustrated by frontispiece and by whole page, title and contents pages and head and tailpiece vignettes. Coloured pictorial endpapers with overhead garden plans. First edition of the author's first gardens book, starting a trilogy, recounting his experiences of living in a Tudor thatched cottage ('Allways'), in the Huntingdonshire village of Glatton and of creating its garden. The series, all illustrated by the drawings of the artist, Rex Whistler (1905-44), proved immensely popular and even spawned a number of satires. By Beverley Nichols (1898-1982), prolific author, noted for his titles on homes and gardens.