Product Description

Glorious images of gardens and the words of the immortal Bard of Avon make an enchanting combination in Shakespeare in the Garden. Mick Hales, one of the world’s preeminent landscape photographers, captures unforgettable images of 14 gardens in England, the United States, and Canada, including Shakespeare’s own gardens as well as the three great restorations of major Elizabethan properties by the Dowager Countess of Salisbury. Hale’s accompanying text sets the scene, with notes on the provenance of each exquisite site. There is also an Illustrated Alphabet of Plants, a unique visual document of 80 flowers, herbs, shrubs, and trees that Shakespeare mentions in his plays, each accompanied by a corresponding quotation.

Rare is the illustrated book that can enhance the power of Shakespeare’s poetry, but this one succeeds masterfully.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #522753 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

From Booklist
Prominent landscape photographer Hales produces lyrical images for magazines and books. In this beautifully produced effort, Hales brings his sophisticated vision to -Shakespeare-themed gardens in England, the U.S., and Canada. Gardening as an art form unto itself captivated Shakespeare. At New Place, the Bard's Stratford-on-Avon home, undulating topiary hedges thrive. Elsewhere, the Elizabethan gardening style lends itself to the Shakespeare theme in various guises, from the copses of stately trees in Vancouver's Stanley Park to lush plantings in Dorset's Cranborne Manor to the Shakespeare Garden at Vassar College, in Poughkeepsie, New York. These beguiling vignettes promise sweet reverie for garden lovers and armchair travelers alike, deepened by the many excerpts from Shakespeare's plays and poetry that pay homage to nature and cultivated spaces. Along with an illustrated compendium of plants, this lovely and informative volume inspires reflections on birch and bay, honeysuckle and heather, pansies and peas. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Mick Hales is a noted landscape photographer and writer whose work has been published in books and magazines around the world. He is both author and photographer of Gardens Around the World 365 Days, 212 Views of Central Park, and Monastic Gardens. Hales lives in Philmont, NY.

Customer Reviews

Beyond my expectations
When you purchase a book online, one that you are buying for the photographs, you are taking a risk that it will not meet your expectations. Rest assured that THIS book is one that is what you expect it to be and beyond. Not only are the photographs of the gardens beautiful, but most helpful, and unexpected, is the index of plants mentioned in Shakespeare's plays and poetry and the actual quotes themselves. A page is dedicated to each plant or tree. You won't go wrong in purchasing this beautiful and useful book.

REFRESHINGLY SURPRISING, INFORMATIVE
Oh, the British... can't cook... but they sure can GARDEN! Just when you thought Shakespeare's been overexposed ad nauseum et infinitum, you learn some surprising 'new' facts about his life that... that... wait for it... has nothing to do with a drop of ink from his plume (not directly, anyway). Amazingly, these plants are still here. TODAY!

As William the Bard would have written, "Wow!" or "Woweth!"

Definitely worth another trip to London.