Beston, Henry

Herbs and The Earth

Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., 1935. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Henry Beston. "The author of The Outermost House, which...remains one of the most beautiful and popular accounts of an experience with nature, again writes of an adventure with the earth, this time with the herbs in his own garden. He lists and describes the various herbs and their culture and associates them with their ancient historical past." (from front flap) The close study of herbology & history by Henry Beston (1888-1968), the great writer & naturalist whose preceding work, The Outermost House, about his seeking refuge at a remote Cape Cod location following the trauma of his experiences during World War I (as an ambulance driver, like Hemingway...), is a canonical classic of nature writing in the American tradition of Thoreau. Here, Benton describes the herbs in his own garden & their associations with the Bible, Shakespeare, ancient Greece & Rome, the Middle Ages etc. With various woodcut illustrations of seasonal scenes & herbs by John Howard Benson (1901-1956), the noted American stonecarver & calligrapher. Hardcover in un-remainder clipped dust jacket (see condition below), first edition as stated on copyright page. On blank front endpaper, Beston has hand-written his signature in bold black ink. A very rare & rewarding Beston collectible. Book in fine condition with only mild wear & fading to thin edges & corners of brown-colored cloth front, back covers & spine, most pronounced & extensive at upper spine-edge & corners; several tiny, light spot-flecks at blank surface of back cover; mild-to-moderate rubbing & browning to edges of text block; moderate-to-medium fading & short, faint scratching to dyed upper edge of same. Interior very fine with mild browning to blank paste-downs & endpapers; small, charming vintage sticker "From The/ Bookshop/ for/ Boys & Girls" in Boston affixed to front paste-down at lower right corner-edge; a hint of browning to blank margins of page leaves; small creases, tiny bumps at upper corners of same. Unrestored dust jacket in relatively fair condition with moderate rubbing, browning, fading, scratching & creasing to front, back covers, spine & flaps; mild-to-significant wear, bumps, creases & short tears at edges & corners of same incl. small areas with loss of paper esp. at upper spine-edge & corner, upper edge of front cover. We note that while the jacket is un-remainder clipped, there are small clips at all corners of flaps as issued, with original price intact near upper edge of front flap. Fine / fair. [Item #4505]

Price: $150.00