Description
Park Farm Press, Published 1996. Paperback, xi, 212 pp.; 24 cm; illustrated with facsimiles of archival documents, maps, photographs, and engravings of violets. Translated and annotated by E.J. Perfect.
Rare, out-of-print & unusual books · Since 1997
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Catalog notes
Condition & notes
In Good condition. Pale lavender glossy card covers with purple lettering; front printed with engraving of the violet 'La France' and Millet's signature, rear with map of Bourg-la-Reine showing the Millet nursery. Mild bumping and creasing to edges and corners. Fading to edges, heavier along edges of rear cover; spine heavily faded, lettering barely legible. A few small specks to covers. Binding tight. Pale yellow stain in middle of p. 31; otherwise pages clean and unmarked. The first English translation of Armand Millet's Les Violettes, leurs origines, leurs cultures (Paris, Octave Doin, 1898), by the Bourg-la-Reine nurseryman known as "le pere la Violette," together with E.J. Perfect's biography of Millet and his family of violet growers. Drawing on departmental archives, the book reproduces birth and municipal records, maps of Bourg-la-Reine, photographs, and the violet engravings of the original edition. Perfect's translator's notes correct and explain Millet's text. Further sections list the violets raised or introduced by Millet, his father, and his son Lionnel, and the violets in Lionnel Millet's catalogue for 1932-1933, with appendices on tree violets drawn from nineteenth- and early twentieth-century gardening journals and a bibliography of Millet's writings. Perfect had written on the history of garden violets for the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society and for the newsletter of the International Violet Association. Contents: Illustrations; Armand Millet; The Nursery; Exhibiting Violets; Violets, their origins and cultivation by Armand Millet; Translator's notes; Violets raised or introduced by Millet, his father and his son Lionnel; Violets listed by Lionnel Millet in his catalogue for 1932 to 1933; Tree Violets; Appendices 1-6; Bibliography; Acknowledgements and thanks; Index.