The Amateur Gardener. Second Edition (greatly enlarged) of the Fruit, Flower, and Vegetable Garden
Adelaide, E.S. Wigg & Son, 1877 (second edition).
Duodecimo, 132, [4] (index), 8 (advertisements) pages.
Original yellow papered boards printed in black on all surfaces (in red and black on the front cover, with an advertisement for the publisher at the rear); covers a little worn and marked, with slight loss to the rear top edge; endpapers marked (especially the front one, used as a watercolour palette by a child, with a few numbers written later in ink); title page a little soiled; minor signs of use and age, but overall a very decent copy of a rare book meant to be used.
This is only the fourth copy we have seen in over 45 years, and Trove records only five institutional holdings. We have noted two different bindings: papered boards, as here, in two instances, and quarter contrasting (red and green) cloth, lettered in gilt on the spine and front cover, in another two instances. Ernst Bernhard Heyne (1825-1881), botanist and horticulturist, 'was a prodigious writer. Though overshadowed by von Mueller, his botanical and horticultural work greatly contributed to the early development of [the] two colonies' of Victoria and South Australia ('Australian Dictionary of Biography', making a rare error in not recording accurately this edition). Ferguson 10397; Crittenden 53 (with a lengthy commentary on its importance). The first edition was published as 'The Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Garden' in 1871 (Ferguson 10396, recording only one copy; Crittenden 47, 'not sighted'; Trove records five copies).
Item #126843
Price (AUD):
$900.00