Garden History Society collection
A collection of material on the history of landscape, garden design, horticulture and conservation assembled and owned by the Gardens Trust (formerly the Garden History Society).
About the collection
The collector
The Garden History Society was founded in 1966 to study garden history and to protect historic gardens. Since 2015 the Society became part of The Gardens Trust.
Acquisition
The Society donated part of its Library to the University in 1998.
Highlights
Notable books in the collection include:
- The earliest book in the collection is A new herball or historie of plant, 1586.
- The Flower Garden, 1839 with its hand-coloured plates.
- A general treatise of agriculture, both philosophical and practical; displaying the arts of husbandry and gardening. Printed in 1756.
- Catalogue for 1842, a choice collection of floricultural, vegetable & agricultural seeds. A seed catalogue compiled by James Carter a seedsman and florist.
- The Garden : an illustrated weekly journal of gardening in all its branches
Within the main collection are a number of books from notable collectors including Basil Williams, John Anthony, Jill Collett and John Harvey’s books on flowers and garden history.
Related collections
The Borthwick Institute for Archives holds a number of archives on gardening and horticulture.
The Digital Library has several collections of digitised images on gardens.
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Digitised glass slides of the Backhouse plant nursery, Holgate York. The original slides are held by the Borthwick.
Further information
- The University of Bath also houses the Trust’s collections.
- Find out more about the The Gardens Trust.