Description

Fulcrum, Golden, Colo. [Published date: 1987]. Hardcover, 528 pp; illustrated with facsimiles of Jefferson's handwriting, diagrams, architectural surveys, black-and-white and some color plates; 22 cm. Includes bibliography and index. Very good in good+ dust jacket. Brown cloth covered boards with gilt emblem and signature on front and black strip with gold lettering on spine. Light scuffing to edges of covers. Binding tight. Pages clean and unmarked. Dust jacket has a few 1" or smaller chips and tears and creasing along edges, light overall scuffing; price clipped. Now in an archival quality (removable) Brodart cover. Not ex-library. [From jacket flaps] For almost sixty years, Thomas Jefferson kept a journal of his garden and his farms, recording his horticultural successes and failures, the progression of the seasons and his thoughts on gardening and agriculture. Fulcrum is proud to publish, in a special edition, this reproduction of Jefferson's Garden and Farm Books. The Farm Book never has been transcribed, and only one version of the Garden Book has been issued. Thomas Jefferson was, at heart, a gardener. He observed nature in detail and continually experimented with new varieties of flowers, shrubs, trees, fruits and vegetables. He shared ideas, experiences and plants with gardeners around the world. Perhaps nowhere else is the human side of Jefferson more apparent than when he is thinking and writing about gardening and the details of daily living at Monticello. Seldom has agriculture had a more eloquent spokesman. The present volume contains relevant letters from Jefferson to such contemporaries as George Washington, John Adams and James Madison, as well as to his friends and family. Also included are an essay by Henry Steele Commager, a description of the Jefferson Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society, and a discussion of the restoration of Monticello's gardens in this century by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation and the Garden Club of Virginia. In addition, a list of plants and a horticultural bibliography are provided to assist those gardeners interested in creating their own version of Monticello. The book is beautifully illustrated with Jefferson's own handwriting and drawings of his gardens, and with Robert Llewellyn's photographs of Monticello.