A Whiff Of Death

Carlene Miller: Death Off Stage, Womens Work Pr Llc 2001-05-01 ISBN: 1930874014
Very Good

SCARCE SOFTCOVER BOOK. NO WRITING OR MARKINGS IN TEXT, NO TORN OR MISSING PAGES. A WHIFF OF ODOR, AS THIS BOOK WAS AT ONE TIME IN THE HOME OF A SMOKER. ONLY LIGHT WEAR & CREASING TO COVER. LOC:MILLER Paperback

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BROOKSHAW, George (1751-1823): Pomona Britannica; or, a collection of the most esteemed fruits at present cultivated in Great Britain; selected principally from the royal gardens at Hampton Court, and the remainder from the most celebrated gardens around London,

London: Bensley & Son for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown and John Lepard, 1817. 2 volumes in one, large 4to. 60 stipple-engraved plates by G. Brookshaw, printed in colours and finished by hand. Contemporary olive straight-grain morocco with elaborate borders in gilt and blind, spine gilt in compartments with raised bands, gilt edges. Brookshaw's masterpiece: a good copy in untouched "country house" condition. Although this work has traditionally been considered the second edition of Brookshaw's earlier work of the same name, it is essentially a new work: the format is different (quarto rather than large folio), the plates are different (and engraved by the author himself), and the text was extensively re-worked and brought up to date. The result is a work whose plates are both spectacular examples of the art of stipple engraving and also important and useful historical records of particular cultivars. In total, the work includes details of 174 cultivars of 15 types of fruit (5 strawberries, 3 raspberries, 12 gooseberries, 15 cherries, 25 plums, 8 apricots, 25 peaches, 13 nectarines, 4 grapes, 4 melons, 8 figs, 4 hazel or cob nuts, 19 pears and 26 apples). The plates, numbered from I-LX, are of the following fruits: 1 of strawberries; 1 of raspberries, 1 of currants, 1 of gooseberries, 5 cherries, 9 plums, 2 apricots, 10 peaches, 4 nectarines, 4 grapes, 4 melons, 1 nuts, 8 pears and 7 apples). The introduction lays out the aims of the book (the main one being Brookshaw's wish to "excite in gentlemen ... a predominant turn and ardour for horticultural pursuits"), whilst also bemoaning the fact that between October 1815 and May 1816 almost 60,000 worth of apples had been imported from France. The main text gives useful details of each cultivar pictured: its history, cultivation, usefulness and taste. A 4pp. table at the end of vol. II lists the owners and locations of the gardens from which Brookshaw obtained his specimens: most from specimens in various royal gardens (Hampton Court; Windsor; Kensington Gardens; the Prince of Wales' house at Blackheath and the Duke of York's residence at Oatlands), but others came from the noble collections at Sion House, Strawberry Hill, Osterley Park and Chiswick House, and the private collections of connoisseurs such as James Maddock of Walworth, Dr. John Coakley Lettsom of Grove Hill in Camberwell and Sir Joseph Banks. Until the early 1990s details of Brookshaw's life had been lost, but in a recent article, Lucy Wood uncovered much of the remarkable story of the man who began his career as a celebrated cabinet-maker and died a relatively unknown botanical artist. By 1783, the Birmingham-born Brookshaw was a fashionable and successful cabinet-maker, known for his furniture with all-over painted decoration with figurative, landscape and, above all, floral themes. By the mid-1790s he had disappeared. Lucy Woods suggests that a scandal of some sort drove him to abandon his career and to live under an assumed name, working at a completely new career. She believes that A New treatise on Flower Painting, published anonymously in 1797 and later (in the third edition of 1799) in the name of G.Brown, was actually by Brookshaw, whose A Supplement to the Treatise on Flower Painting published in 1817 has largely the same content - including 11 plates supposedly by Brookshaw but identical to those in the earlier work, where they were attributed to Brown. If Wood's hypothesis is correct, then the Pomona (the first edition was published between 1804 and 1812) marks the first public resumption by Brookshaw of the use of his own name, as well as the first indication of his new metier. Sadly, Brookshaw and his work seem to have been disregarded by the eminent botanists of his day - perhaps the whiff of scandal still acted as a deterrent, perhaps his scientific pedigree lacked the necessary gravitas. He died in 1823 with less than 100 pounds in his bank account. The anonymous preface to his Horticultural Repository, published posthumously, relates that "although ... undistinguished in his death, his latter days were passed in comfort; and although he died poor, he did not want". Bunyard p.432; Dunthorne 51; Great Flower Books (1990) p.81; Nissen BBI 244; Oak Spring Pomona 40b; Prideaux p.295.

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Asimov, Isaac: A Whiff of Death . London Sphere Books 1977 ; fester Einband / hard cover
Gut - Sehr Gut .

Sprache English.Dem Alter entsprechender sehr guter sauberer Zustand.Besitzvermerkstempel am Vorsatzblatt Illustrierter Einband 156 Seiten, 17,5x10,5cm,200g Buch

[SW: Science Fiction / Fantasy , Roman , Asimov, Isaac]

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