BEETON’S SHILLING GARDENING BOOK

 Ward Lock & Co

 8vo, 252 pages, green cloth boards, n/d, perhaps early 1900s.

 A standard gardening tome, covering the flower and kitchen gardens, fruit growing, garden pests and monthly calendar. The book has many adverts which are charming and evoke feelings of nostalgia for another age. Goodall’s Quinine Wine, Baking Powder and Yorkshire Relish being examples, (Sold by Grocers, Chemists, Oilmen &c!).

 There is no dust jacket, the boards are rubbed and worn and have some light staining. There is a slight puncture to the top centre of the front cover, which can be seen inside the front stickdown paper. There is an ink owners inscription at the top of the inside the front cover which has been crossed out in ink, some of which has deposited on the opposite side, next to an embossed W.H.Smith of London crest. There is a beautifully written ink owner’s inscription within an advertisement box inside the rear cover. The boards have a slight slackness, the pages are clean and tight.