The South African Garden Manual: A Compendium Of Garden Practice Under South African Conditions By T.R.(Dick) Shaw F
The South African Garden Manual: A Compendium Of Garden Practice Under South African Conditions (Collectible Inscribed Hardcover Edition)
The Definitive Horticultural Companion for Navigating Regional Soil Variations, Flora, and Microclimates
The Definitive Horticultural Companion for Navigating Regional Soil Variations, Flora, and Microclimates
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: The South African Garden Manual: A Compendium Of Garden Practice Under South African Conditions
- Author: T.R. (Dick) Shaw F.
- Publisher: Delta Books Ltd., Johannesburg
- Publication Date: 1982
- ISBN-10: 0908387032
- ISBN-13: 9780908387038
- Edition Details: 20th Revised and Expanded Edition. A highly collectible, milestone local imprint featuring a unique personal contemporary ink inscription on the secondary front endpaper.
- Binding: Original publisher's premium full-cloth boards, structurally firm with crisp title stamping along the spine face.
- Physical Format: Octavo (8vo), 248 pages. Elegantly optimized with detailed botanical illustrations, localized planting maps, and structural garden grid plans.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Very Good (VG)
- Exterior Boards: The original full-cloth hardboards are exceptionally straight, solid, and flat. The spine remains completely unbroken, firm, and uncreased, with all corners holding clean lines. Only microscopic shelf-wear is visible on the bottom edges, completely consistent with careful handling over decades of precise shelving.
- Interior: The structural text block is robust, bright, and tightly bound. Internal leaves and text illustrations are exceptionally clean, crisp, and completely free from modern highlighting, user marginalia, or secondary dealer pencil markings. Features a neat, elegant previous owner presentation ink inscription on the front second page.
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The Dust Jacket: Good (G)
- Condition & Integrity: The original illustrated vintage dust jacket is present. It exhibits clear, age-appropriate signs of wear and tear, with standard vintage chipping and small tears localized primarily around the edges and spine boundaries. The jacket has been completely stabilized, held together beautifully, and preserved under a high-grade archival cellophane protective cover sleeve.
Synopsis & Historical Value
First conceived in the early 20th century as the foundational blueprint for regional horticulture, this landmark 1982 edition of The South African Garden Manual published by Delta Books stands as an indispensable reference work for local gardeners. Masterfully revised by T.R. (Dick) Shaw, the primary aim of this manual is to provide all the basic structural and practical information necessary for successfully establishing and maintaining a garden under distinct South African environmental conditions.
Written in a concise, highly readable style, the compendium answers the immediate logistical questions of the absolute beginner while offering fresh layout ideas, pest control advice, and plant pairing concepts for the veteran enthusiast. Spanning everything from soil aeration and water preservation to the cultivation of native succulents and traditional flora, this cellophane-protected volume acts as a brilliant historical mirror and a highly practical framework for sustainable Southern African gardening.
Author Profile: T.R. (Dick) Shaw F.
T.R. (Dick) Shaw was an elite South African horticultural authority, landscape advisor, and pioneering agricultural writer who dedicated decades to documenting the intersection of local climate patterns and soil sciences. Celebrated for his highly logical and pragmatic prose style, Shaw specialized in modifying traditional European gardening techniques to survive the harsher droughts, specialized pests, and varied topographies characteristic of the South African veld. His meticulous updates to classic gardening handbooks helped democratize professional landscape design, making his instructional text blocks standard reference pieces across schools, nurseries, and private collections nationwide.
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