Mimpish Squinnies: my widening circle of friends

[lblanchard]

I emailed the bookseller (Warren F. Broderick, Books, http://www.gardenbooks.org ) who sold me Reginald Farrer's My Rock-Garden bearing the bookplate of R. J. Carthew, to see what he could tell me about the book's provenance.

His reply, within a couple of minutes:

It was acquired last winter at a Conn. book store that was going out of business. He had purchased the library of author, Geoffrey Charlesworth, a few years ago and this may have been one of his books. GC had other titles owned by noted authors and British gardeners.

This is very cool. Charlesworth (1920-2008) was old enough (apparently) to have acquired this volume directly from a Carthew estate sale. Much of Carthew's property was sold shortly after his death in 1943. Charlesworth is (it says at the link below) the author of a book titled The Opinionated Gardener, about growing alpines. I would expect this to be in the mold of Farrer. He penned a delightful poem, "Why did my plant die?", which you can read at the link:

http://acnargs.blogspot.com/2008/07/geoffrey-charlesworths-passing.html

Charlesworth is an interesting character in his own right. A man with an aptitude for mathematics, he was recruited into the Bletchley Park project by Alan Turing. After the war he and his partner emigrated -- were they influenced by the cautionary tale of Alan Turing's experience? I wonder -- and he lived and gardened on Long Island until his retirement. More in his obituary here:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/berkshire/obituary.aspx?n=geoffrey-b-charlesworth&pid=110170521

Used editions of The Opinionated Gardener are very modestly priced. I may order one Or I may wait. and did, from ABEBooks.com for $5 plus $1 shipping.

I am reading two Farrer titles more or less simultaneously right now -- My Rock-Garden in hardback and On the Eaves of the World in pdf. I saw a set of this latter on abebooks.com for $50, the lowest price available, and I think not quite yet...

Edited to add, for pameladean, an illustration of A. vernalis that I found in an online edition of Among the Hills. The list of illustrations at the beginning says "some in color," but Google images in b/w. Maybe I'll run across the real book some day...

Anemone vernalis. Painting by Mrs. Addington Symonds
The Lady of the Snow belongs to the very highest Alps only; it is first of all flowers to unfold
in the dark pools of moorland made by the melting snow.
Farrer, Reginald John, Among the hills; a book of joy in high places. London, Headley [1910].

Captured from a book scanned by Google Books and placed online by the Hathi Trust Digital Library.

Comments

[pameladean]

Oh, that's lovely. And your research into the provenance of your book is fascinating.

The poem is so great. That is the running interior monologue of so many gardeners, primed by gardening books.

P.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Well, I ordered the book (no surprise there, I have no self-restraint when I'm in the throes of a research passion and the price is right).

I have established a theoretical provenance in my mind now: R. J. Carthew >> possible intermediate owner >> Geoffrey Charlesworth >> Connecticut bookshop >> Warren Broderick >> me.