lamdha books -
Catalogue of books on plants and their cultivation

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99880 Barash, Cathy Wilkinson Vines & Climbers Friedman, New York NY, 1997. Square quarto hardcover; green boards with gilt spine titling and pale green endpapers; 128pp., colour illustrations. Minor wear; very good to near fine in like dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Click here to order $20

210020 Barnes, Don Daffodils For Home, Garden and Show The Timber Press, Portland OR, 1987. Octavo hardcover; black boards with gilt spine titling; 176pp., colour plates and monochrome illustrations. Retailer's sticker on endpaper. Illustrated dustwrapper with slightly sunned spine panel and mildly worn spine extremities. Very good. Wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Click here to order $18

209963 Bath, Trevor, & Joy Jones The Gardener's Guide to Growing Hardy Geraniums David & Charles Publishers, Newton Abbot Devon UK, 2000. Reprint: octavo; hardcover, full cloth with gilt spine titles; 157pp., with a full-colour frontispiece and many illustrations likewise. Mild wear; text block and page edges very lightly toned. Dustwrapper lightly rubbed. Very good. Click here to order $25

210008 Bennett, Jennifer Lilacs for the Garden Firefly, Buffalo, 2002. Paperback, quarto; 127pp., colour illustrations. Mild edgewear. Near fine. Click here to order $18

206406 Bird, Richard Flowering Trees and Shrubs All illustrated directory of species and how to grow them successfully Quarto Books/Simon & Schuster (Aust.) Pty. Ltd., Brookvale NSW, 1989. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 160pp., with many full-colour illustrations. Mild wear; some light spotting to the text block edges and preliminaries. Dustwrapper lightly edgeworn. Very good. Includes CD-ROM in a printed cardboard envelope. Click here to order $20

207067 Bloom, Adrian (Adrian & Richard Bloom, illus.) Gardening with Conifers Bloomings Books, Melbourne Vic., 2001. Quarto hardcover; green boards with gilt spine titling and lime green endpapers; 192pp., colour illustrations. Minor wear; tiny scrapes to board corners. Otherwise very good in like dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Click here to order $25

210365 Carter, Susan, Carrie Becker & Bob Lilly (Foreword by Ann Lovejoy; Lynne Harrison, illus.) Perennials The Gardener's Reference The Timber Press Inc., Portland OR, 2007. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 542pp., with a full-colour frontispiece, maps and many full-colour illustrations. Mild wear; somewhat rolled; board corners bumped; text block top edge lightly dusted. Dustwrapper is mildly rubbed and edgeworn. Very good. Click here to order $34

210083 Clark, Timothy Mary McMurtrie's Country Garden Flowers Garden Art Press, Woodbridge Suffolk UK, 2009 Quarto; hardcover, green boards with gilt upper board and spine titling, illustrated endpapers; 191pp., with many full-colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; mild rubbing and edgewear to dustwrapper, front fore-edge lightly sunned. Near fine. Click here to order $30

210004 Clements, Mark A The Allure of Orchids National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2013. Quarto, flexibound; 159pp., colour illustrations, decorated endpapers. Mild wear; some scattered spotting to spine edge of rear cover. Very good to near fine. Click here to order $23

215777 Coombs, Roy E. Violets: The History & Cultivation of Scented Violets B T Batsford, London, 2003. Second edition. Hardcover, octavo; blue boards with white spine titling and matching blue endpapers; 144pp., colour plates and illustrations. One or two tiny marks and spots on text block edges. Otherwise near fine in like dustwrapper. A revised and updated edition of the standard work on the subject. The new edition has been considerably expanded with more cultivation details and more illustrations - over 60 colour photographs and watercolour paintings. The author - the former president of the International Violet Association, Roy E Coombs - is one of the world's leading experts on violets and brings his knowledge, experience and passion to bear. The book covers the history of violet cultivation; all four groups of violets - scented single violets (hardy), scented double violets (hardy), scented semi-double violets (hardy), and scented Parma violets (tender) - including an exhaustive list of cultivars in each, many of which are described in detail. The author also discusses aspects of violet perfume manufacture. Click here to order $25

210082 Court, Sally Roses in Modern Gardens Mitchell Beazley, London, 2004. Quarto hardcover; red boards with silver gilt spine titling and red endpapers; 160pp., colour illustrations. Minor wear; mild rubbing to lower board corners and faint spotting to upper text block edge. Illustrated dustwrapper mildly rubbed with some light toning to edges, one or two tiny scrapes at corners; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $28

209988 D'Amato, Peter The Savage Garden Cultivating Carnivorous Plants Ten Speed Press, Berkley CA, 1998. Octavo; paperback; 314pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; faint spotting to text block edges; rubbed covers; wear to edges and corners; laminate lifted slightly on lower rear edge. Carnivorous plant society leaflet, laid in. Very good. Click here to order $18

210124 Davidian, H.H. The Rhododendron Species - two volumes Volume 1: Lepidotes; Volume 2: Elepidote Species, Series Arboreum-Lacteum The Timber Press, Portland OR, 1982/B.T. Batsford Ltd., London, 1989. Two volumes, quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 775pp. [431pp. + 344pp.], with monochrome frontispieces, maps, 88pp. of full-colour plates and many monochrome illustrations. Moderate wear; Volume 1 slightly shaken; softening and scraping to the spine extremities; text block edges lightly toned and top edges dusted; mild offset and some mild marks to the endpapers. Dustwrappers are mildly rubbed and edgeworn with some light chipping and mild creasing to the spine panel extremities; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $100

98020 de la Bedoyere, Charlotte Starting Out with Native Plants New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd., London, 2007. Quarto; hardcover, with illustrated boards; 128pp., with many full-colour illustrations. Minor wear. Dustwrapper. Very good to near fine. Click here to order $20

210055 Fiala, John L. Lilacs A Gardener's Encyclopedia The Timber Press, Portland OR, 2008. Revised edition. Quarto hardcover; green boards with gilt spine titling; 416pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear only; spine panel of dustwrapper mildly sunned. Near fine Click here to order $50

42530 Francis, Richard Growing Rhododendrons Kangaroo Press, Sydney NSW, 1997. Hardcover, quarto; dark red boards with white spine titling; 176pp., colour illustrations. Spotting to text block edges; illustrated dustwrapper sunned along the spine panel. Very good. Click here to order $25

210119 Gerritsen, Henk, & Piet Oudolf (Foreword by Noel Kingsbury) Dream Plants for the Natural Garden Bloomings Books, Hawthorn Vic., 2000. Quarto; hardcover, with silver-gilt spine titles; 144pp., with many full-colour illustrations. Minor wear. Dustwrapper lightly rubbed and sunned along the spine panel; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good to near fine. Describes 1200 plant species selected from the practical perspective of natural gardens. These are plants chosen on the basis of their dependable traits in a natural garden, where your attempts at intervention are kept to the minimum. This does not include plants which have to be dug up regularly and pulled apart to stay alive or plants which suddenly just fall by the wayside, but those which can, over the years, be maintained in an average garden without too much in the way of artificial props and bolstering (that is requiring pesticides, artificial fertilisers and armies of garden labourers). Discussed in the book are perennials, bulbs, grasses, ferns and small shrubs which will be able to survive competition from one another or the vagaries of the weather (excepting catastrophes) and will do what is expected of them for many years. This book offers the opportunity to create the natural garden of our dreams. Click here to order $35

78327 Handcock, Ralph, & Margaret Smith Orchids Month by Month Dymock's Book Arcade, Sydney NSW, nd. Small quarto hardcover, 74pp, colour and monochrome plates & illustrations. Owner's name, foxed preliminaries, tape outline stains, spotted text block edges; else near fine in like dustwrapper a little worn at edges and now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Click here to order $16

210009 Hitchmough, James Garden Bulbs A Seasonal Planting and Flowering Guide for all Australian Regions Viking O'Neil/Penguin Books (Aust.) Pty. Ltd., Ringwood Vic., 1989. Paperback, octavo; 222pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Owner's name. Spotting to upper text block edge; mild edgewear. Very good. Click here to order $17

210019 Hobhouse, Henry Seeds of Wealth Four Plants that Made Men Rich Macmillan/Pan Macmillan Ltd., London, 2003. Octavo; hardcover, with silver-gilt spine titling; 255pp., with monochrome line drawings. Moderate wear; flyleaf removed; text block top edge dusted. Dustwrapper lightly rubbed and edgeworn; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. In this book, Henry Hobhouse recognises plants as a causal factor in history; he examines four plants: rubber, timber, tobacco and the wine grape, each of which enormously increased the wealth of those who dealt in them, created great new industries and changed the course of history. Ancient Rome's monopoly on wine production had huge economic and hygienic importance. Without rubber, there would have been no development of cars, buses and trucks, bicycles, waterproof clothing or even tennis balls and condoms. Tobacco has largely been condemned for its effects on health and its true role in history ignored. Tobacco has often been used in place of currency and its growth in Virginia supported a colony that produced much of the talent that made Independence possible. Timber shortages led the British Royal Navy to become dependent on American timber. The dearth of timber drove English coal mines deep, which led to the steam pumps, steam engines, and ultimately the Industrial Revolution. These are fascinating stories the effect of minutiae on the great waves of history.'You cannot help but admire and enjoy the company of a man who takes such a novel and global view of history.' - Spectator Click here to order $20

209946 Howells, John Clematis - The Montanas A Book for Gardeners Garden Art Press/Antique Collectors' Club Ltd., Woodbridge Suffolk UK, 2005. Royal octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine and upper board titles and decorative endpapers; 215pp., with a full-colour frontispiece, a decorated title page, and many full-colour and monochrome illustrations. Mild wear; some minor insect damage to the board edges. Dustwrapper lightly rubbed. Very good. Click here to order $23

209949 Jefferson-Brown, Michael Narcissus The Timber Press Inc., Portland OR, 1991. Octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 224pp., with 32pp. of full-colour plates and many monochrome illustrations. Mild wear to spine extremities scraped lightly; text block edge slightly spotted. Dustwrapper is lightly sunned along the spine panel. Very good. Click here to order $25

210086 Kilpatrick, Jane, & Jennifer Harmer The Galanthophiles 160 Years of Snowdrop Devotees Orphans Publishing, Leominster UK, 2018. Quarto; hardcover; black boards with gilt spine titles, decorated endpapers; 258pp., with many full-colour & b&w illustrations and green ribbon marker. Mild wear only; fine in like dustwrapper. Snowdrops known botanically as Galanthus came of horticultural age between 1854-2014. The Galanthophiles explores not only the discovery of new variants and species during that time but also the stories of the ardent enthusiasts who sought out, cherished, and shared these deceptively fragile white flowers. The Galanthophiles brings to life the forgotten experts whose knowledge and skills contributed to the preservation of the snowdrops we love today. Click here to order $70

78673 Klein, Carol (Jonathan Buckley, illus., Erica Hunningher, ed.) Plant Personalities Choosing and Growing Plants by Character Cassell Illustrated/Octopus Publishing Group Ltd., London, 2004. Quarto; hardcover, with silver-gilt spine-titling; 176pp., with many full-colour photographic illustrations. Near fine in like dustwrapper, now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Plants can be flamboyant and voluptuous, funny and frivolous, even shy and retiring, but do they really have personalities? In this book, Klein demonstrates how understanding plants' needs and providing the appropriate conditions enables them to develop their true characters - the qualities that make them what they are. Personality traits can be as valuable as height, habit, and flower colour when choosing your plants. Some plants are good-natured, contributing to the overall landscape for months, while others are fleeting, grabbing the spotlight for a brief but breathtaking display. Still others lend a sense of frivolity or sensuality to the garden. Illustrated with superb photographs, Plant Personalities will inspire any gardener to see the unique character in every plant. Click here to order $20

210021 Koopowitz, Harold (James Comstock, illus.) Clivias The Timber Press, Portland OR, 2002. Octavo hardcover; green boards with silver gilt spine titling; 384pp., colour plates and monochrome frontispiece. Minor wear only; very slight edgewear to black illustrated dustwrapper; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Near fine. Click here to order $70

210050 le Rougetel, Hazel A Heritage of Roses Stemmer House, Owings Mills, 1988. Small quarto hardcover; green boards with gilt spine titling; 176pp., colour plates and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear only. Dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good to near fine. Click here to order $24

209956 Lewis, Peter, & Margaret Lynch (Roger Phillippo, illus.) Campanulas Christopher Helm (Publishers) Ltd., Bromley Kent UK, 1989. Octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 149pp., with 8pp. of full-colour plates and many monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; retailer's bookplate to the front pastedown. Dustwrapper. Near fine. Published in Association with the Hardy Plant Society. Click here to order $20

54658 Longhurst, Peter and T.J. Savige The Camellia Bay Books, Sydney/London, 1982. Hardcover, quarto; dark red cloth boards with gilt upper board and spine titling; 158pp., colour illustrations, ribbon marker and edges gilt all round. Illustrated white dustwrapper with toning to edges and spine, mild chipping at corners with tiny tear on upper front corner. Very good. Wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film with white paper backing. Click here to order $45

204737 McGredy, Sam (Joyce Blake, illus.) Look to the Rose - signed by the author A View from New Zealand David Bateman (with Penclaren House), Auckland New Zealand, 1981. Quarto; hardcover, with silver-gilt spine titles and decorative endpapers; 112pp., with many monochrome and colour illustrations. Mild wear; spine sunned; previous owner's ink inscription to the flyleaf; signed in ink by the author to the title page. No dustwrapper as issued. Very good in a like slipcase with a gilt decoration. Click here to order $45

209994 McLeod, Judyth A. Lavender, Sweet Lavender Kangaroo Press Pty. Ltd., Kenthurst NSW, 1993. Quarto; paperback; 120pp., colour plates and monochrome illustrations. Mild edge and corner wear; spine panel and adjacent mildly faded. Very good. Click here to order $15

209969 Mitchell, Jodie, & Lynne Lawson The Plant Lover's Guide to Primulas in Association with Kew Royal Botanical Gardens The Timber Press Inc., Portland OR, 2016. Square octavo; hardcover, with illustrated boards; 248pp., with many full-colour illustrations. Minor wear. No dustwrapper as issued. Near fine. Click here to order $22

82566 Organ, John Gourds Decorative and Edible, for Garden, Craftwork and Table Faber and Faber Ltd., London, 1963. Hardcover, octavo; 188pp., monochrome plates & illustrations. Minor wear; faint spotting to text block edges; illustrated yellow dustwrapper with some scraping at spine extremities and along spine edge; rubbing to rear panel. Very good and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Click here to order $20

30796 Pavord, Anna The Tulip Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., London, 1999. First edition: royal octavo; hardcover, with illustrated endpapers; 440pp., with a decorated title page and many colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; mild toning and faint spotting to text block and page edges. Otherwise near fine and now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. The Tulip is not a gardening book. It is the story of a flower that has made men mad. Greed, desire, anguish, devotion have all played their part in the development of the tulip from a wild flower of the Asian steppes to the world-wide phenomenon it is today. The US alone imports three thousand million tulip bulbs each year, Germany and France even more. Why did the tulip dominate so many lives through so many centuries in so many countries? The author, a self-confessed tulipomaniac, has spent six years looking for answers. No other flower has ever carried so much baggage; it charts political upheavals, illuminates social behaviour, mirrors economic booms and busts, plots the ebb and flow of religious persecution. Roaming through Asia, India, Russia and the Ottoman Empire, the author tells how the tulip arrived from Turkey and took the whole of Western Europe by storm. In the petals of the exquisite English florists' tulips, still exhibited in competition by members of the Wakefield Tulip Society in Yorkshire, runs the blood of flowers first grown by John Evelyn in the middle of the seventeenth century. Sumptuously illustrated from a wide range of sources, the book also features descriptions of eighty wild-species tulips and several hundred garden varieties. Click here to order $32

95264 Pavord, Anna (Ron van Dongen. illus.) The Tulip Anthology Chronicle Books, San Francisco CA, 2010. Folio hardcover; green boards with upper board embossed titling and tulip decoration, illustrated endpapers; 232pp., colour illustrations. Tiny tear on upper rear edge of dustwrapper and minimal edgewear otherwise. Near fine and wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. This large format book is a sumptuous celebration of one of the world's most astonishing and admired flowers. It combines contemporary and historical images and text to document humanity's thousand-year long fascination with the tulip. Ron van Dongen's lush colour photography is a particular highlight. A foreword by tulip expert Anna Pavord explores the blossom's rich cultural history and rounds out this vast and sumptuous collection. This is a book to rival the beauty of the flower itself. Click here to order $50

209968 Picton, Paul & Helen The Plant Lover's Guide to Asters in Association with Kew Royal Botanical Gardens The Timber Press Inc., Portland OR, 2015 Square octavo; hardcover, with illustrated boards; 248pp., with many full-colour illustrations. Minor wear. No dustwrapper as issued. Near fine. Click here to order $22

209942 Pratt, Kevin, & Michael Jefferson-Brown The Gardener's Guide to Growing Fritillaries Florilegium, Balmain NSW, 1997. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 160pp., with full-colour frontispiece and many monochrome and full-colour illustrations. Minor wear. Dustwrapper mildly rubbed and edgeworn. Near fine. Click here to order $25

205010 Proctor, Rob, (Foreword by Miriam Rothschild; Rob Gray, illus.) Wild Flowers - Antique Flowers series Country Classics for the Contemporary Garden Running Heads Books/Cassell Publishers Ltd., London, 1991. Quarto; hardcover, with upper board titles and illustrated endpapers; 160pp., with many full-colour illustrations. Minor wear; boards lightly rubbed and corner bumped. Dustwrapper lightly rubbed and edgeworn; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $28

209958 Reiss, Marcia Lily Reaktion Books Ltd., London, 2013. Octavo; hardcover, quarter-bound in decorated cloth with illustrated boards and decorative endpapers; 224pp., with many full-colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; text block and page edges lightly toned. No dustwrapper as issued. Near fine. Click here to order $20

210013 Romanowski, Nick Gardening with Carnivores Sarracenia Pitcher Plants in Cultivation & in the Wild UNSW Press, Sydney NSW, 2002. Octavo; paperback; 106pp., colour illustrations. Mild edgewear. Very good. Click here to order $20

210071 Schmid, W. George The Genus Hosta Giboshi Zoku The Timber Press, Portland OR, 1999. Quarto hardcover; green boards with gilt spine titling, map endpapers; 428pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Board edges and corners well-rubbed; dustwrapper spine panel sunned. Very good to near fine. Wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as "hostas", "plantain lilies" and occasionally by the Japanese name "giboshi". Hostas are widely cultivated as shade-tolerant foliage plants. This classification for the genus reflects the author's fascination with hostas. All hostas known at the time of writing are detailed, including their 3500 names and synonyms in many languages (300 in Japanese kana). Click here to order $45

77923 Thomas, Graham Stuart Ornamental Shrubs, Climbers and Bamboos John Murray, London, 1992. Hardcover, octavo, 583pp., colour and monochrome plates, maps and illustrations. A few spots and light wear to dustwrapper edges. Very good to near fine and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Thousands of species, their hybrids and cultivars are described in alphabetical order; only rhododendrons and roses are not included. The emphasis is on the use of shrubs in the garden, and the expert information is related always to the interests of the gardener: size, evergreen or deciduous, colour of flower, scent, season of flowering, autumn colour, methods of propagation are all given in an ingenious Line of Facts for easy reference. Lively short descriptions of the characters of each plant will help amateurs and professionals alike to choose what to grow and also what to avoid. Click here to order $25

87709 Toogood, Alan Conifers and Heathers A Guide to Easier and Better Gardening Tiger Books, London, 1990. Quarto hardcover; illustrated boards and endpapers; 89pp., colour illustrations. Mild wear to dustwrapper edges and corners. Very good to near fine and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Click here to order $16

78265 Valder, Peter Wisterias A Comprehensive Guide Florilegium, Balmain NSW, 1996. Quarto hardcover, 160pp., colour illustrations. Minimal wear to lower board corners and mild rubbing to dustwrapper. Near fine and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Reflecting the author's lifetime fascination with wisterias, this beautifully illustrated book traces the history of wisterias since their introduction from China and Japan, examines and attempts to resolve their often tangled nomenclature, and provides detailed information about cultivation and care. Click here to order $25

206061 van Jaarsveld, Ernst (Vicki Thomas, illus.) The Southern African Plectranthus and the art of turning shade to glade Fernwood Press, Simon's Town South Africa, 2006. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titles and upper board decoration; 176pp., with many colour illustrations. Dustwrapper. Remainder. New. Click here to order $23

209982 Wilder, Louise Beebe (Walter Beebe Wilder, illus.) Adventures with Hardy Bulbs Lyons Press, New York NY, 1998. Octavo; paperback; 363pp., monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; small mark on lower text block edge and one or two spots. Very good to near fine. Click here to order $17

209939 Wilford, Richard The Plant Lover's Guide to Tulips In Association with Kew Royal Botanic Gardens The Timber Press Inc., Portland OR, 2015. Octavo; hardcover, with illustrated boards; 222pp., with many full-colour illustrations. Minor wear; boards lightly rubbed. No dustwrapper as issued. Very good. Click here to order $22

206635 Winterrowd, Wayne (ed.) (Pamela Stagg, illus.) Roses - A Celebration Thirty-Three Eminent Gardeners on their Favorite Rose North Point Press/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York NY, 2003. First edition: quarto; hardcover, quarter-bound in cloth with gilt spine titles; 261pp., with many colour illustrations. Mild wear; spine extremities lightly softened. Dustwrapper well rubbed and edgeworn with some stains; a small tear to the lower panel (now repaired); now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $24