Ex Libris, Dennis Fiori

I have been collecting books on gardening and horticulture for at least fifty years, amassing over three thousand. Julia asked that I share my favorites and most influential.

Most Cherished

Gertrude Jekyll, A Memoir

Francis Jekyll

Jonathan Cape, 1934

This is the first biography of Jekyll, written by her nephew. What makes this copy special is that it was owned by Katherine White, E.B.’s wife and a well-known garden writer. It contains marginalia relating her garden in Brooklin, ME to Jekyll’s.

 

Planting and Rural Ornament, Being a Second Edition with Large Additions of Planting and Ornamental Gardening, A Practical Treatise

William Marshall, 1796

This copy was owned by Thomas Lyman. Both Washington and Jefferson owned a copy of these two volumes, but probably the first edition published in 1785. They came with a letter tucked inside written in 1911 to Arthur Lyman by Charles Eliot, President of Harvard and I believe his cousin. Most likely Arthur found the books in the library of his family’s country estate, The Vale, now owned by Historic New England. Eliot tells Arthur the treatise is so rare that even the Harvard library doesn’t have a copy. He goes on to say the work was probably useful in developing the gardens, but was published too late to have influenced the laying-out.

 

Classic Inspiration

Any book by Christopher Lloyd, Vita Sackville-West, Penelope Hobhouse or Rosemary Verey. The best of the best:

The Well-Tempered Garden

Christopher Lloyd

Random House, 1973

In Your Garden, 1951

In Your Garden Again, 1953

More for Your Garden, 1955

Even More for Your Garden, 1958

Vita Sackville-West

Michael Joseph

The four volumes make a set composed of columns Vita wrote for The Observer.

Garden Style

Penelope Hobhouse

Little, Brown and Company, 1988

 

Rosemary Verey’s English Country Gardens

Rosemary Verey

Henry Holt and Company, 1996

 

Contemporary Inspiration

The Gardens of Arne Maynard

Arne Maynard

Merrell, 2015

Nicole de Vesian—Gardening

Modern Design in Provence

Louisa Jones

Actes Sud, 2012

 

Landscape of Dreams

The Gardens of Isabel & Julian Bannerman

Isabel & Julian Bannerman

Pimpernel Press Ltd, 2016

 

This is a very brief list of selections that came immediately to mind. They are heavily slanted toward design, as is my entire collection. Although I have a large section providing practical knowledge I have to confess to turning to the internet when I have such a need.

Dennis Fiori