The Compleat Gard'ner

 

The Compleat Gard'ner, or, Directions for cultivating and right order of fruit-gardens, and kitchen gardens was authored by Jean de La Quintinie (1626 to 1688). This volume was printed in 1699 in London for M. Gillyflower, and sold by Andrew Bell.

The copy owned by the Botany Libraries is bound in a reddish brown Morocco goatskin with a central reddish circular decorative inlaid medallion. The medallion depicts a standing man bent over facing left with a fruit tree in front of him and a basket of tools behind him. The decoration on the front and back covers is identical. The covers, spine, inside front cover (turn-ins), headcap, and all edges are tooled in gold. The exterior borders on each cover are composed of double straight lines, one gold-tooled and the other blind-tooled. The inlaid central medallion is surrounded by a single border tooled in gold. Blind-tooled fleur-de-lys appear in each of the four corners. The spine is divided into six panels by five raised bands. The sixth panel, which is nearest the tail of the spine, is larger than the other panels. The title of the book is tooled in gold on the second panel of the spine. The date of publication is tooled in gold on the sixth panel of the spine. 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. This is a laced in binding, and the book does not open well. It is sewn with white thread, probably cotton. There is a single headband at the head and tail made of green and yellow thread, possibly silk. There is some acid migration from the leather turn-ins on both the front and back end sheets, and extreme foxing of the text block paper which has led to a darkening of some pages. 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