Thoreau's Wildflowers
Henry David Thoreau author Barry Moser illustrator Geoff Wisner editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Yale University Press
Published:7th May '16
Should be back in stock very soon
The first collection of Thoreau’s writings on the flowering plants of Concord, with more than 200 drawings by renowned artist Barry Moser
Some of Henry David Thoreau’s most beautiful nature writing was inspired by the flowering trees and plants of Concord. An inveterate year-round rambler and journal keeper, he faithfully recorded, dated, and described his sightings of the floating water lily, the elusive wild azalea, and the late autumn foliage of the scarlet oak.
This inviting selection of Thoreau’s best flower writings is arranged by day of the year and accompanied by Thoreau’s philosophical speculations and his observations of the weather and of other plants and animals. They illuminate the author’s spirituality, his belief in nature’s correspondence with the human soul, and his sense that anticipation—of spring, of flowers yet to bloom—renews our connection with the earth and with immortality.
Thoreau’s Wildflowers features more than 200 of the black-and-white drawings originally created by Barry Moser for his first illustrated book, Flowering Plants of Massachusetts. This volume also presents “Thoreau as Botanist,” an essay by Ray Angelo, the leading authority on the flowering plants of Concord.
“Thoreau’s Wildflowers collects some of Thoreau’s best botanical observations, pairing his prose with black and white drawings by illustrator Barry Moser. The text is drawn from Thoreau’s two-million-word journal, a work so massive that few have made their way through it. Most readers of Thoreau’s Wildflowers will be meeting these musings on plants for the first time.”—Danny Heitman, Wall Street Journal
“These diaries make you feel as if you are alongside Thoreau as he rambles through the American countryside”—Caroline Beck, Gardens Illustrated
“Thoreau’s excursions through the woods of Concord were made with a ‘true sauntering of the eye.’ Geoff Wisner’s Thoreau’s Wildflowers is a sauntering through the landscape of Thoreau’s journals leading the reader to new discoveries of otherwise overlooked fruit.”—Jeffrey S. Cramer, editor of Walden: A Fully Annotated Edition
“This beautifully illustrated book brings Thoreau’s voice to life, yielding a fascinating glimpse into the rich botanical world that thrived in New England 150 years ago and that still graces the landscape today.”—Elizabeth Farnsworth, New England Wildflower Society
“Wisner’s seasonal compilation of Thoreau’s prolific wildflower observations coupled with Ray Angelo’s heralded profile of Thoreau as Botanist provide a delightful read and invaluable resource.”—Cherrie Corey, Concord naturalist and photographer
ISBN: 9780300214772
Dimensions: 235mm x 152mm x 24mm
Weight: 635g
344 pages