Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1613388 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 126 pages

Ingram
Written by a New England poet and illustrated by one of America's greatest Impressionist painters, the book was originally published in 1894. This reissue faithfully reproduces the original paintings and is presented in an elegant slip-cased gift edition.

About the Author
Childe (Frederick) Hassam was an American painter and etcher born in Dorchester, Massachusetts and educated at the Boston Art School and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His works include July 14 Rue Daunon (1910) and Church at Gloucester (1918), both in the Metropolitan Museum, New York City.

About the time the facsimile edition was first published, Celia Thaxter"s garden was restored by volunteers according to the plans noted in this book. It is open to visitors through arrangements with Cornell University"s marine laboratory on nearby Star Island, off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Tasha Tudor is a contributor for Houghton Mifflin Company titles

Customer Reviews

Allen Lacey wrote the intro - Not Tasha Tudor
Sorry folks, Tasha Tudor didn't write the introduction to this fine book. Allen Lacey wrote it. That doesn't detract from the book, but it does correct the listing above.

The illustrations are photoengravings of the original stone lithographs. Stone lithographs (chromolithographs) can take up to 30 stones to reproduce the color of the original. Chromolithographs, like wood engravings, are an original art form in and of themselves. They are, naturally, the size of the book itself, and not meant to substitute for the original paintings.

This is an exquisite little book, issued in a slip case, and makes a nice gift for those interested in the asesthetics of gardening.

An absolutely wonderful book!
In the closing years of the Nineteenth Century, Celia Thaxter (1835-94) lived on Appledore, one of the Isles of Shoal off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Contemplating the lovely garden that she had created there, she decided to write down her thoughts and share them with us. Taking the form of a yearlong calendar, she walks us through her experiences in her garden, as she tends it and protects it throughout the year.

This is an absolutely wonderful book! Celia obviously loved her garden and all of the green growing things around her. This love shines through the narrative, such as when she wrote, "He who is born with a silver spoon in his mouth is generally considered a fortunate person, but his good fortune is small compared to that of the happy mortal who enters this world with a passion for flowers in his soul."

As I said before, this book covers a year in the life of Celia's garden, but is not written as a simple chronology. Instead, the book covers Celia's work and her thoughts, moving from advice to poetry with a wonderful casualness. The boxed edition of this book is handsomely decorated, with Childe Hassam's illustrations setting just the perfect tone for it. This book makes a wonderful gift for the gardener in your life, and I can't recommend it enough!

Turn of the Century Gardener's Field Notes
Reading An Island Garden by Celia Thaxter has become a yearly ritual for me, to inspire and prepare me for yet another hopeful year of gardening. Ms. Thaxter's intimacy with the pleasures and plagues of each variety of perennial, biennial or annual she grows (mostly of the old-fashioned varieties) is astounding. This book has become a guidebook for me in replicating an old-fashioned "grandmother's" garden. Her poetic descriptions of her "flower children" and fervor in protecting them is both endearing and amusing. At times, it seems as though she is joking when she describes the lengths at which she'll go to ward of the pests which threaten her Island garden. Reading an Island Garden will bring you back to the gentle times of the Victorian Era and is especially perfect seaside or verandah reading. This is definitely for people who love their gardens and consider them as human as a member of the family!