ie They are  NOT coming from overseas !!

The Gardner's   Year

- by Karel Capek -

Illustrated by Josef Capek

Publisher: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, London, UK 

Published: 1929

Binding: HARDcover with Dustjacket 120 pages  

Condition: Carefully read & displayed condition! HERE in MELBOURNE! A retired display copy as illustrated!

Edition:  FIRST EDITION: 11th printing  1942

TIGHT,  SCARCE   HARDCOVER with Dustjacket ~  IN  MELBOURNE  ... 

WHY do ebayers buy from US?

Because you KNOW what you're getting. My close up photos are of the actual item!!

Remains  carefully read - and then it was proudly displayed in a private family collection. It is Tight -  neat, a neat, dated 1942 inscription on the first endpaper. but no other marks within. Appears as in my photos - this is the exact copy!!  A nicely preserved copy - superb!

No discernible shelf wear, the interior is tight and spotlessly clean with 120 pages. THIS copy is the FIRST EDITION: 11th printing from 1942 - the UK publishing by George Allen & Unwin, London. The black line illustrations by Josef Capek.

Incredibly SCARCE title - this is a lovely tight copy!!

In original green decorative boards HARDcover binding, in publisher's decorative green pictorial dustcovers which is price clipped and in very good condition.

(Stored with 2019!)

Measures approx.  5¾  x 4  inches or 15  x  12cms

SYNOPSIS ....

It is seldom that a practical guide to gardening attains the level of a literary masterpiece, still more seldom that a book on gardening can amuse and instruct even those who have no garden to plant., nor the faintest interest in acquiring one. The Gardener's Year is a charismatic product of Karel Capek's genius: amusing, informative, and full of a quizzical interest in people, animals and plants.
It captures the grace and irony of the original Czech, to produce a volume that will be treasured equally by those who love gardening as a relaxation, by those who loathe it as a chore, and by those who have no interest in it whatsoever.

The Gardener's Year is a characteristic product of Karel Capek's genius: amusing, informative, and full of a quizzical interest in people, animals and plants.

Contents: 

How Little Gardens Are Laid Out. 

How a Man Becomes a Gardener. 

The Gardener’s January. 

Seeds. The Gardener’s February. 

On the Art of Gardening. 

The Gardener’s March. 

Buds. 

The Gardener’s April. 

Holiday.

The Gardener’s May. 

The Blessed Rain. 

The Gardener’s June. 

On Market Gardeners. 

The Gardener’s July. 

A Botanical Chapter. 

The Gardener’s August. 

On the Cultivators of Cacti. 

The Gardener’s September. 

The Soil. 

The Gardener’s October. 

On the Beauties of Autumn. 

The Gardener’s November. 

Preparations. 

The Gardener’s December. 

On Gardening Life. 

About the Author

Karel Capekwas a Czech novelist and playwright of international and enduring fame. Among his other works are The Life of Insects, Hordubal, and Nine Fairy Tales.

Karel Čapekis one of the the most influential Czech writers of the 20th century. He wrote with intelligence and humour on a wide variety of subjects. His works are known for their interesting and precise descriptions of reality, and Čapek is renowned for his excellent work with the Czech language. His play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) first popularized the word "robot".

Very  Entertaining read!

Reviews

MAGNIFIQUE!!  …….   Beautiful, positive, hopeful, witty and wonderful. Anyone who endures the trials and tribulations as well as the serene tranquility and beauty gardening can bring will enjoy this book. If you can't get out to garden, this is the next best thing.

FUNNY FUNNY treasure of a book … Although I am a rather clumsy gardener and I am plagued by rabbits and gophers and deer ( oh my!), I do share Capek's enthusiasm for gardening.
I re-read this book every year. It inspires me and gives me solace in the long dark days of Winter. 
This is a light-hearted introduction to the work of Karel Capek, one of the best European writers from the last century.

Wonderful little book  …… "The best thing of all is to be a living man -- that is, a man who grows." This happy little quote, straightforward and simple and profound, could sum up this wonderful little book.

A time past   ….. The lengthy quotation by William really summarizes this witty and thoughtful book. It has the frenetic sense of Eastern European writing along with the sense of the gardener. Written in the early 1920's, it is the picture of a lost era, but seems contemporary to the mad gardener in me.

CHARMING… This is very charming, often humorous, and the writer communicates the essential angst of everyday gardening quite well. Hard to relate to in terms of practical gardening experience, but entertaining. 

A SPARKLING GEM !.. The Gardner's Year is a tiny, sparkling gem. The book was written in the Czech playwright's native language and this meditation on gardening is witty, graceful and precious. I adore all the unique words in unexpected places that come with translations by non-native English speakers. I love that I was able to purposefully and accidentally learn a bit about Czech culture albeit of 50+ yrs ago. For example, I learned about the turning of the seasons in Prague by his descriptions of his garden in each month of the year. I am not even a marginally competent gardener and yet I was fascinated by this book. At times I laughed out loud!

ps …  It's also extraordinary, I must say, to look into the mind of person much older than myself. You can tell by the way he thinks, operates in the world, and chooses to express himself that age has matured and mellowed him. Older is wiser and less quick to take offense at things, I think...more inclined to be meditative. That is not to say that his mind isn't quick witted and creative because he has both those traits in spades

FIVE STARS   …. Just recently, I discovered the Modern Library Gardening Series (Michael Pollan, series editor) which published--from what I can tell--only eight classic gardening books in its series from 2002-2003. I'm not sure why there are not more than eight, to be honest, but at least there are these and I'm thankful. Capek, for those who do not know him, was a Czech writer (1890-1938) who is remembered in literature for his science fiction (he coined the term "robot") than this short treatise on gardening, but he has nonetheless left us with a very entertaining and beautifully written account of the trials and passions of an obsessive Czech gardener and his year-long life entrenched in his garden. The illustrations (sketches, really) that punctuate the essays are downright hilarious and depict garden-characters that are described in the essays, something I am fond of and wish I would see more of. Anyway, Capek was first and foremost a writer and it's his equally blunt and excessive style of writing (I love the long list of verbs and adjectives used throughout)as well as his odd use of metaphor that raises this book to such a unique and beautiful status among garden books that are often twice the length. I want to read these aloud they are so funny and, I should add, still very culturally accurate today. Highly recommended for gardeners and anyone who enjoys short essays that entertain while shedding light on our modern, busy lifestyles. 

WONDERFUL , simply wonderful!  ….. "It is only an optical illusion that my flowers die in autumn; for in reality they are born. We say that Nature rests, yet she is working like mad. She has only shut up shop and pulled the shutters down; but behind them she is unpacking new goods, and the shelves are becoming so full that they bend under the load. This is the real spring; what is not done now will not be done in April. The future is not in front of us, for it is here already in the shape of a germ...Sometimes we seem to smell of decay, encumbered by the faded remains of the past, but if only we could see how many fat and white shoots are pushing forward in the old tilled soil, which is called the present day; how many seeds germinate in secret; how many old plants draw themselves together and concentrate into a living bud, which one day will burst into flowering life--if we could only see that secret swarming of the future within us, we should say that our melancholy and distrust is silly and absurd, and that the best thing of all is to be a living man - that is, a man who grows."

Amazing ….. In fact, I think I wouldnt appreciate any other version but original czech one. Its not only story itself, but the form. It is something absolutely amazing, how he can play with language. The act of reading was like listening to beautiful serenade.