1896 The Bamboo Garden

Description

First Edition, Illustrated, Original Binding, Publishers' Original Binding

The first edition of the work.

In publisher's original decorative cream cloth binding. Includes a gilt top edge.

With a frontispiece, 8 further plates, and illustrations throughout. Features 2 pages of publisher's advertisements to the rear of the volume. Collated, complete.

This intricate first edition provides a detailed account of the cultivation of bamboos, with chapters ranging from propagation and soil to superstitions and species. The work conveys a wide knowledge of bamboos native to both Japan and China, assisted by the beautiful illustrations of Alfred Parsons. Written by A.B. Freeman-Mitford, a British diplomat who went to Japan as second secretary to the British Legation at the time of the Meiji Restoration, and subsequently wrote his most notable work "Tales of Old Japan".