Bonsai by Alan Roger

Bonsai (Wisley Handbook, Third Impression 1987)

A Practical Royal Horticultural Society Guide to the Art of Growing and Training Bonsai

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Bonsai
• Author: Alan Roger
• Publisher: Cassell Educational Limited for the Royal Horticultural Society, London
• Publication Date: 1985
• ISBN-13: 9780304310746
• ISBN-10: 0304310743
• Edition Details: New edition, fully revised and reset, 1985. Third impression, revised, July 1987. Part of the Wisley handbook series.
• Binding: Publisher's illustrated card wrappers, perfect bound. Green front cover with a colour photograph of a bonsai, teal spine lettered in white.
• Physical Format: Medium softcover, roughly 200 x 130 mm, 63 pages. Illustrated with colour photographic plates and line drawings.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Wraps: The illustrated wrappers are clean and bright, with only slight edge wear and a faint crease near the right of the front cover picture. The teal spine is straight and clean, with crisp white lettering. The cream-toned back cover is clean and carries the publisher's series advertisement.
• Interior: The pages are clean and fairly bright, and the binding is tight. The colour plates are free of visible flaws apart from a tiny speck in the margin of one plate. There is a previous owner's handwritten inscription in blue ink on the front free endpaper, with a slight mark in the top corner of that page.
• Provenance: Previous owner's inscription in blue ink on the front free endpaper, dated 19.4.88, with a playful message and the initials apparently R.B.L. Not signed by the author.
• The Dust Jacket: Not Applicable (As Issued)

Synopsis & Historical Value

Bonsai is a Wisley handbook published by Cassell Educational for the Royal Horticultural Society. It is a practical introduction to the Japanese and Chinese techniques of growing and caring for bonsai, covering potting, feeding, thickening of trunks and branches, wire training and aftercare.

This copy is the third impression of the fully revised and reset 1985 edition, issued in July 1987. The text is supported by colour photographic plates and line drawings, and the back cover carries the Society's list of companion gardening handbooks and an invitation to join the RHS.

A useful, nicely preserved handbook for anyone growing bonsai, or for collectors of Royal Horticultural Society and Wisley publications.

Author Profile: Alan Roger

Alan Stuart Roger (1909-1997) was a bonsai enthusiast whose interest in growing things extended early on to the art of bonsai. He exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show every year for 35 years and served as a judge for the Royal Horticultural Society.

He wrote the Wisley handbook Bonsai, first published by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1981, which was later issued in French, Italian and Spanish editions.