Down the Garden Path
by Beverley Nichols
with a foreword by Bryan Connon
Down the Garden Path has stood the test of time as one of the world's best-loved and most-quoted gardening books.
Ostensibly an account of the creation of a garden in Huntingdonshire in the 1930s, it is really about the underlying
emotions and obsessions for which gardening is just a cover story. The secret of this book's success — and its
timelessness — is that it does not seek to impress the reader with a wealth of expert knowledge or advice.
Beverley Nichols proudly declares his status as a newcomer to gardening: "The best gardening books should be written
by those who still have to search their brains for the honeysuckle's languid Latin name ..." From
a disaster building a rock garden, to further adventures with greenhouses, woodland gardens, not to mention cats
and treacle, Nichols has left us a true gardening classic.
308 pp.; 9 color drawings, 2 b/w photos; hardcover; ©1932, 2005
Read excerpts from Down the Garden Path
A Thatched Roof
by Beverley Nichols
Beverley Nichols fans, armchair gardeners, and literature enthusiasts will delight in this reprint of the second book in his Allways trilogy,
with facsimile reproductions of Rex Whistler's original graceful illustrations and a new foreword by Roy C. Dicks. Nichols's humorous ruminations
on life in the countryside, as always, are refreshing. The typical Nichols gardening anecdotes and familiar characters are there, as well as the
author's beloved dog, Whoops, an inveterate spy with a habit of leaping to conclusions.
300 pp.; 10 line drawings, 1 b/w photo; hardcover; ©1933, 2005
A Village in a Valley
by Beverley Nichols
This reprint of the third book in Nichols's Allways trilogy contains a new foreword by Bryan Connon, Beverley Nichols's biographer. Set in the
English countryside, the hilarious memoir is as much about the author's love for plants as it is about the village in which he lived. The
depictions of flowers and ornamentals — "A single one of those gloxinias would be an event in Allways ... I should give a party for it" —
are both inspiring and unforgettable. This is the voice of one whose chief endowment is an appreciation for plants and the landscape, including
a keen understanding of the importance gardens play in an increasingly modern world.
304 pp.; 7 line drawings, 2 b/w photos; hardcover; ©1934, 2005
Down the Kitchen Sink
by Beverley Nichols
foreword by Roy C. Dicks
Down the Kitchen Sink has much in common with its famous predecessor, Down the Garden Path, in which Beverley Nichols described
his early forays into the realm of gardening. When he began to write the first, he could not prune a rose. When he began to write the second,
he could not boil an egg. Perhaps this is why both books remain fresh and eminently readable. The phrase 'kitchen sink' may suggest squalor
and disillusionment, but Beverley Nichols transforms it into a symbol of merriment and adventure. With a new foreword by Roy Dicks and Val
Biro's charming drawings, the Timber Press edition of Down the Kitchen Sink deservedly takes its place among Beverley's classics on
gardens, homes, cats, and other friends.
212 pp.; 19 line drawings; hardcover; ©2006
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Green Grows the City
by Beverley Nichols
foreword by Roy C. Dicks
Anyone who has ever created a garden knows that it is a process replete with drama: there's the feverish excitement of drawing up plans and
making lists of plants; the bleak depression of realizing that the plans will have to be altered; the "Eureka!" moment when a brilliant
solution presents itself; the grim frustration of dealing with meddlesome neighbors and recalcitrant plants. For Beverley Nichols
(1898–1983), making a new garden in a London suburb in the years just before World War II was positively operatic in its emotional
trajectory. Fans of Beverley Nichols will find in Green Grows the City the same elements that have delighted them in his other books:
the wit, the style, the cats, and of course Gaskin, gentleman's gentleman extraordinaire. Those new to Nichols are in for a rare treat.
316 pp.; 10 b/w photos, numerous line drawings; hardcover; ©2006
Garden Open Today
by Beverley Nichols
foreword by Roy C. Dicks
When Beverley Nichols first published Garden Open Today in 1963, he was
already well known for his "garden adventure" books such as Merry Hall,
whose unforgettable characters still live in the imaginations of present-day
gardeners. In Garden Open Today, however, Nichols sought to distill 30
years of practical gardening experience in an entertaining fashion, and perhaps
to strike back at critics who whispered that he was not a "real gardener."
264 pp.; 44 b/w illus.; hardcover; ©1963, 2002
Read excerpts from Garden Open Today
Garden Open Tomorrow
by Beverley Nichols
foreword by Bryan Connon
This is Nichols's final garden book and the summation of a long career spent
enjoying and writing about gardens. Being Beverley Nichols, however, he cannot
confine himself to a narrow discussion of gardening for long and provides
entertaining asides on cats – including a hilarious critique of feline
"ballet" performances – psychic phenomena, and the use of plants to commit murder.
286 pp.; hardcover; ©1968, 2002
Read excerpts from Garden Open Tomorrow
Merry Hall
by Beverley Nichols
foreword by Ann Lovejoy
First in a trilogy, Merry Hall is the account of the restoration of a house
and garden in post-war England. Though Mr. Nichols's horticultural undertaking is
serious, his writing is high-spirited, riotously funny, and, at times, deliciously
malicious.
342 pp.; 24 b/w illus.; hardcover; ©1951, 1998
Read excerpts from Merry Hall
Laughter on the Stairs
by Beverley Nichols
foreword by Roy C. Dicks
In this, the second volume of the Merry Hall trilogy, Nichols is less concerned with
his garden and more with his house, but the story does include the memorable characters
Our Rose, the ditzy floral designer, and the cantankerous gardener Oldfield.
260 pp.; 44 b/w illus.; hardcover; ©;1953, 1998
Read excerpts from Laughter on the Stairs
Sunlight on the Lawn
by Beverley Nichols
foreword by Bryan Connon
Sunlight on the Lawn brings to a close Beverley Nichols's delightful Merry Hall
trilogy describing the renovation of his rundown Georgian mansion and its garden.
273 pp.; 30 b/w illus.; hardcover; ©1956, 1999
Read excerpts from Sunlight on the Lawn
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