Fish - Popular Gardening - 1850

VICTORIAN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORTICULTURE AND GARDENING ILLUSTRATED IN FOUR VOLUMES
Monumental work of Victorian gardening, Cassell’s Popular Gardening represents one of the most complete horticultural encyclopedias published in English between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Edited by D. T. Fish, a renowned horticulturist and British communicator, it gathers the contribution of the era’s leading specialists, many of whom belonged to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the British Museum and the Royal Horticultural Society. The work systematically covers every aspect of the art of gardening: ornamental plants, horticulture, fruit growing, greenhouses, trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables, cultivation techniques, landscape design and control of plant diseases. The illustration program, richly abundant, includes numerous full-page color plates, botanical chromolithographs, and hundreds of in-text engravings.
WHY TO BUY
One of the most complete English-language gardening encyclopedias of the Victorian era.
Splendid iconographic apparatus with numerous color botanical plates and hundreds of in-text illustrations.
Drafted with the collaboration of experts from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the British Museum.
Fundamental source for the history of horticulture, landscape gardening, and ornamental botany.
Elegant complete four-volume set bound uniformly.

MARKET VALUE
Complete sets of Cassell’s Popular Gardening are sought after by both botanical collectors and scholars of Victorian horticultural culture. Value depends mainly on the completeness of the four volumes, the presence of the chromolithographic plates, and the condition of the editorial bindings. Complete copies in good condition generally sell between 400 and 500 euros, with higher prices for particularly fresh copies, complete with all plates and free from restorations.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Four volumes. Original green cloth bindings stamped in gold and black on the boards and spines. Gilt titles. Numerous chromolithographic botanical plates off-text, many full-page and some double, in addition to hundreds of wood-engraved illustrations in the text depicting plants, flowers, trees, vegetables, greenhouses, tools and cultural techniques. Text in English. Bindings with typical signs of use and some wear to corners and tips. Internally present are bloom spots and physiologic browning. Protective tissue guards present for the illustrations. In old books with a multihundred-year history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp.:(2); 4; 380; (2).
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FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Cassell's Popular Gardening.
London, Paris, Melbourne (and in Volume II also New York): Cassell and Company, Limited, s.d. (late 19th century).
David Thomson Fish.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The work arises in the period of the greatest splendor of British horticulture, when the garden becomes an essential element of domestic culture and the identity of the English middle class. The continuous introductions of species from the British Empire, combined with the development of greenhouses and commercial floriculture, created a remarkable demand for reliable and up-to-date manuals. Cassell’s Popular Gardening answers this need by offering a practical yet scientifically rigorous encyclopedia, intended for both professionals and enthusiasts.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
David Thomson Fish (1828–1894) was one of the most authoritative British horticulturists of the nineteenth century. Trained at important private gardens and English botanical institutions, he published numerous manuals devoted to ornamental cultivation and greenhouse management. For this encyclopedia he coordinated the work of a large group of specialists, including botanists from the British Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, offering a reference work destined to remain in use for many decades.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The work was published by Cassell and Company, Limited, one of the leading British publishers of the Victorian era, specializing in large illustrated works distributed also by subscription. The various print runs show slight variations in the title pages and in the stated cities (London, Paris, Melbourne and sometimes New York), but retain the same editorial arrangement and the important iconographic program that contributed to the work’s success with international readers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Nissen, Die Botanische Buchillustration.
Stafleu & Cowan, Taxonomic Literature.
Ray Desmond, Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturists.
Royal Horticultural Society, history of British horticulture.
British Library Catalogue.
WorldCat.