Rock Gardening for Amateurs

Rock Gardening for Amateurs
by H. H. Thomas
Adopted by
Diane Shaw
in memory of Ruth F. Schallert
on December 13, 2021
Cover of Rock Gardening for Amateurs

Rock gardening for amateurs, / by H. H. Thomas assisted by S. Arnott; beautifully illustrated with twelve direct colour photographs by H. Essenhigh Corke, sixty-four half-tone plates and numerous sketches.

By H. H. Thomas. London, New York, Toronto, Melbourne: Cassell and company, limited, 1914.

This first edition, with its eye-poppingly colorful book cover and spine of rocks and flowering shrubs, was written by a leading British garden writer of  the 20th century, Harry Higgott Thomas (1876-1956). Thomas trained at the famous Kew Gardens in London and worked at Veitch’s Nursery and Windsor as foreman of the Royal Gardens before embarking on a career as a horticultural writer. Rock Gardening for Amateurs is written for beginning rock gardeners and is one of over 30 books and articles he wrote on gardening during this lifetime. The publishers took advantage of new printing techniques of the time. Therefore, in addition to many black-and-white photographs, this book is illustrated with twelve tipped in colored photographic plates of alpine plants and scenery, including edelweiss (plate 3, page 26). Edelweiss, Leontopodium alpinum, is a high altitude plant made famous in the musical, The Sound of Music. In 1949, he was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honor by the Royal Horticultural Society in the UK.

Discover more about this book in our Catalog.

Adoption Type: Build and Access the Collection