A pleasant, bookish, Interlude...

This week my life is taken up with some important work commitments. It makes me wish I were still on holiday... 

Today however, something rather special arrived in the post.  

A little purchase I made on e-bay.

Here it is:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

It looks fairly ordinary doesn't it?  

An ordinary, brown, leather covered book.  

Ordinary size.  

Ordinary shape. 

No illustrations . . .

But wait!

Once you open the cover and begin to read, then you are 'transported', because this is no ordinary book my friends.  This is in fact the 2nd edition (1836) of "The Manse Garden" by The Rev. Nathaniel Paterson.

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

And what a book it is!

On the surface it is a book about gardening on a smaller scale, to counteract the many books written about gardening that were aimed at the wealthy, landed gentry: people with a small army of gardeners to attend to their desires.  

Dr. Paterson's audience are those members of the upper and affluent middle classes, who have a smaller plot to work with and a 'man or two' or perhaps even a 'gardener's boy' to assist them.

But it is the writing, the poetry of words, that makes this book a thing to treasure.

The first part of the books speaks of trees.  Here I have transcribed the first paragraph for you:

"Of all the trees of the forest, the native holly is the most interesting and beautiful.  Whether young, as a shrub in the garden, or old, as a lonely tree of the mountain, its glowing fruit and glossy leaves, gleaming in the winter sun, prove the delight of all eyes.  It allures to its own hurt the mischievous schoolboy; it is the laurel of Burns, and the sanctuary of the singing birds.  Shielding its songsters from the hawk, it shelters them in the storm, and feeds them with its fruit when other trees are bare.  It does one's heart good to see the humble blackbird picking a red berry amidst the falling snow."

Already you, the humble gardener, are falling in love with this tree, and he hasn't even got to the technicalities of planting it yet!

The book covers all aspects of gardening, written in a style that is at once both informative and poetic.

And then there are the unusual and sometimes exotic lists of the various varieties of plants - some of them sounding like the stuff of fairy tales.  Take this list of fruit trees that can be grown against a wall:

This Photograph was taken by Kirk Dale.

Some of course we know such as the May-duke Cherry, but I can find no record of the 'Green Pear of Yair'.

I have even consulted my 1788 copy of 'Every Man His Own Gardener', where all sorts of unusual varieties can be found - but it isn't there. 

I wonder what it looked like and if it still exists! (Perhaps you know?)

I do love a book that raises questions and tantalises with possibilities. . .

I have read only the first few pages of this book as I am saving it to take with me on my journey to Budapest on Thursday (I must attend a working conference on school libraries). I want something to look forward to at the end of the day as well as to while away the journey.

I have of course dipped here and there and I know I am going to enjoy listening to Dr. Paterson although his views on cucumbers are interesting to say the least!

I love books.  

I really love old books.  

And I have a feeling that particular one is going to be among my favourites.

PS

You can read a short biography of Dr. Paterson here.  He sounds like an interesting chap.