The book itself

The Curious and Profitable Gardener was authored by John Cowell. This volume was printed in 1730 in London for Weaver Bickerton and R. Montagu.

The copy owned by the Botany Libraries is bound in brown goatskin with a central green circular decorative medallion. The medallion depicts a standing man bent over facing right holding a shovel. The decoration on the front and back covers is identical. The covers, spine, inside front cover (turn-ins), inside back cover (turn-ins), headcap, and all edges are tooled in gold. The exterior borders on each cover are composed of double straight lines tooled in gold. There are blossoms tooled in blind in each of the four corners. The spine is rounded and tight-backed. The binder's stamp "De Sauty" is centered on the lower turn-in of the front upper board.

The volume is in good condition. The leather is slightly scuffed in several places, particularly on corners and edges. The headcap at the tail is slightly cracked. This is a laced in binding, and the book opens well. It is sewn with white thread, probably cotton. There are double headbands at both the head and tail, made of red and brown thread, possibly silk. There is some acid migration from the leather turn-ins on both the front and back end sheets. There is moderate foxing of the text block paper. There is no evidence of tears and the paper is not brittle.

This book has been completely rebound. New endsheets have been added. The text block has not been trimmed.

Detail from cover