I recently bought The Heart of a Garden by Rosamund Marriott Watson. I had never heard of her before but she was a poet, nature writer and garden writer, and The Heart of a Garden contains poems as well as descriptions of particular gardens. Sadly this book only has black and white photographs of gardens (obviously not colour given how old it is) but I had hoped that it would have lovely watercolour illustrations as many books of this type have. It was first published in 1905 but my copy is a 1907 reprint.
I must admit that I saw the book online and decided to buy it just because I loved the cover – yes, shallow I know! But luckily it looks like it’s going to be an interesting read anyway.
I was amazed to discover that despite the fact that the author was born in 1860 and died in 1911 she led what I would call quite a ‘fast’ life. She and her first husband divorced, she later eloped with an artist, then divorced him and ran off to live with a novelist whom she never married.
That’s the second Victorian woman in a week that I’ve read about who led a somewhat irregular life and it didn’t seem to reflect on their lives in any sort of negative way. Mind you I think that if people had money then they were probably judged entirely differently from those in the so called lower orders, maybe they still are!
I completely understand. I have often purchased wonderful used books simply because I fell in love with the cover! I think covers used to be better, but maybe it’s just my imagination and opinion.
Paula
Paula,
I completely agree with you, modern covers in general aren’t as good as the old ones. I can’t understand how publishers manage to get them so wrong, often the cover has nothing to do with the story.
It may be true that ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’, but that shouldn’t stop you from buying (an old) book because of its attractive cover. I’ve done that many times and have never regretted it. Sometimes I don’t even read the book, I just enjoy the cover.
Joan,
Me too, although I do intend getting around to reading the books – sometime!
I agree – I’ve discovered many a wonderful book through being seduced by its cover. This one sounds wonderful. I hope it lives up to expectations; I suspect that it will.
Sandra,
I’m fairly sure I’ll find it interesting, when I get around to reading it!