The Garden Book of Sir Thomas Hanmer

One of an edition limited to 600 numbered copies, this being No. 152. xxxvi, 187pp, plus list of subscribers. In faux leather boards with gilt titles on spine (boards are clean, strong and square with undamaged edges, just slightly bruised at spine tips). Internally there's a previous owner's inscription on the front free endpaper, else neat, clean, bright and tight. The inscription is to Dawn McLeod, who is listed as one of the original subscribers listed in the appendices. In its original dust jacket (lightly bumped on edges, a few small and mild marks, one corner has minor scuff). Tall, square 8vo. Loosely laid in is a 4pp leaflet outlining the plans to republish The Garden Book and appealing for subscribers. Sir Thomas Hamner,1612 to 1678, was a politician serving as a Member of Parliament in 1640 and again from 1660 to 1678. But in his personal life, he was a keen gardener and horticulturist. His Garden Book, written in about 1659 to remedy a perceived deficiency in gardening knowledge, was not published in its entirety until 1933, but is a key source for garden historians being one of the earliest garden books in the English language and providing an acutely observed description of the gardens at Sir Thomas's Welsh home, Bettisfield Park, in the mid 17th century.