Down the Garden Path
by Beverley Nichols
List Price:
Our Price: $15.20
You Save: $9.75 (39%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $13.80 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Beverley NicholsEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Format: Illustrated
Published: 2004-12-01
ISBN: 0881927104
Number of pages: 308
Publisher: Timber Press, Incorporated
Book Reviews of Down the Garden Path
Book Review: Gushing Floral Autobiography with Some Charm
Summary: 4 Stars
The author states that this work is a floral autobiography in which nothing very much happens and from which reading of its 28 chapters the reader will gain practically nothing in knowledge of gardening.
To have such a book exist without these helpful standard qualities, sans plot or instruction then, the author need must rely upon charm. And there is much charm in the writing here.
But while there is charm -- indeed, as well as humor -- there is an insufficient amount of either to get through all 290 pages without the feeling that a tedious prolixity (which the author admits to before the book ends) has entered the book before the last 80 pages are finally read.
Even so, this reader has discovered that, despite the flaws or absences announced above, anyone will learn appreciation, if he or she doesn't already possess it, of Nature's beauties -- flowers, especially.
The author gushes and rhapsodizes over certain flowers with words put down in such a manner that -- the memorability of his "transports" aside -- it would have been a helpful improvement upon the mere reproduction of the facsimile of this original text (first published in 1932) to have had colored photographs of those very specific flowers over which Beverley Nichols does express his poetic enthusiasms: the winter aconite, the Pimpernel, Chionodoxa, cyclamen, clematis, foxgloves, crimson flax -- especially as a contrast to the stark black and white print along with the accompanying black-and-white decorations.
While the author's words about flowers are very inspirational and touching, it was disappointing to learn that they are hardly descriptive of what these gorgeous flowers actually look like, and there is no discernment in the writing of what variety of flower the author actually prizes.
The weight, size, shape, and jacket of this book are all positively gorgeous. The jacket has a glamorous, move-star quality photograph of the author on the back, and the print inside the book is clear, clean and highly readable. The decorations from the original by Rex Whistler are adequately reproduced and add a certain old-fashion charm as well.
Every effort by Timber Press, it seems, has gone into making this book continue as a "timeless classic" about gardening, but the typos that were in the 1932 original publication were not eliminated for this modern edition and they do mar the artful remaking of the book, underscoring, in this way, that the timelessness is, after all, debatable. There is "dispoged" on page 153 where the word should be "disposed" and there is the confusing "Pullyana" instead of "Pollyana" on page 183, where the typo itself seems to serve as some kind of unintentional, accidental humor of its own.
As earlier stated, the writing for this floral autobiograph is, indeed, charming, flirtatious, witty, silly, gushing and diverting for the length of more than a good half of the book and it makes the work a genuine pleasure to read, but then the writer's reed keeps playing his familiar tunes a bit too long by Chapter XIV -- without variation.
Even though the author discusses the creation of his greenhouse for the remaining quarter of the book, a little more pruning would have made the petals of his paens to flowers more magical. An earlier chapter on the Professor is not so very delicious or amusing today, particularly since the author does admit he cannot quite capture how the professor spoke. The several incidents with Mrs. M. seem repetitive and often irritating if not nasty, and the author's general opinions about women feel sexist well after the Sexual Revolution of the Sixties and the same for the author's notion of the "modern girl."
Summary of Down the Garden Path
Down the Garden Path has stood the test of time as one of the world's best-loved and most-quoted gardening books. Ostensibly an account of the creation of a garden in Huntingdonshire in the 1930s, it is really about the underlying emotions and obsessions for which gardening is just a cover story. The secret of this book's success---and its timelessness---is that it does not seek to impress the reader with a wealth of expert knowledge or advice. Beverley Nichols proudly declares his status as a newcomer to gardening: "The best gardening books should be written by those who still have to search their brains for the honeysuckle's languid Latin name..." As unforgettable as the plants in the garden is the cast of visitors and neighbors who invariably turn up at inopportune moments. For every angelic Miss Hazlitt there is an insufferable Miss Wilkins waiting in the wings. For every thought-provoking Professor, there is an intrusive Miss M, whose chief offense may be that she is a 'damnably efficient' gardener. From a disaster building a rock garden, to further adventures with greenhouses, woodland gardens, not to mention cats and treacle, Nichols has left us a true gardening classic.Essays Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Books for Jocey's Perusal
Miss Marjoribanks (Penguin Classics)by Margaret Oliphant
Penguin Classics; Published: 1999-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.15
Price in other shops:
Evelina: or The History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World (Penguin Classics)by Frances Burney
Penguin Classics; Published: 1994-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.20
Price in other shops:
Down the Garden Pathby Beverley Nichols
Timber Press, Incorporated; Published: 2004-12-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.32
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Death in the Gardenby Elizabeth Ironside
Felony & Mayhem; Published: 2005-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.93
Price in other shops:
Green Grows the Cityby Beverle Nichols
Timber Press, Incorporated; Published: 2006-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.97
Price in other shops:
Garden Open Tomorrowby Beverley Nichols, Bryan Connon, William McLaren
Timber Press, Incorporated; Published: 2002-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.55
Price in other shops:
Garden Open Todayby Beverley Nichols
Timber Press, Incorporated; Published: 2002-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.79
Price in other shops:
Down the Kitchen Sinkby Beverle Nichols
Timber Press, Incorporated; Published: 2006-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.43
Price in other shops:
Sunlight On The Lawn (Beverley Nichols Trilogy Book 3)by Beverley Nichols
Timber Press, Incorporated; Published: 1999-02-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.97
Price in other shops:
Laughter On The Stairs (Beverley Nichols Trilogy Book 2)by Beverley Nichols
Timber Press, Incorporated; Published: 1998-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.55
Price in other shops:
Merry Hall (Beverley Nichols Trilogy Book 1)by Beverley Nichols
Timber Press, Incorporated; Published: 1998-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
Village in a Valley (Beverley Nichols's Allways Trilogy)by Beverley Nichols
Timber Press, Incorporated; Published: 2005-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.43
Price in other shops:
Thatched Roof (Beverley Nichols's Allways Trilogy)by Beverley Nichols
Timber Press, Incorporated; Published: 2005-07-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.43
Price in other shops: