1856 Rustic Adornments by Shirley Hibberd - Richly Illustrated Antique Book

Here is a bright, first edition copy of Rustic Adornments by Shirley Hibberd. Published in 1856 by Groombridge and Sons, London. With six colour plates plus a colour title page. A rebacked copy.

Designed to help Victorian households incorporate natural beauty into their living spaces. Hibberd offers guidance on arranging flowers and houseplants, constructing aquariums and ponds, keeping bees and birds, and creating decorative “living” ornaments that bring the outdoors inside. Written to make horticulture and natural study accessible to town dwellers. Blending hands‑on instruction with a philosophy of cultivating taste, observation, and delight in nature.

Contents: The Aquarium; The Freshwater Aquarium; The Garden Aquarium; The Wardian Case; Miscellaneous Ornaments For Dwelling Rooms - Vases For Cut Flowers, Fancy Pots, Miniature Plants, Illuminated Trees; The Aviary or Bird House; The Apiary or Bee-House; The Rockery; The Fernery; Garden Scenery and Ornaments.

Inside the pages are clean, bright and tightly bound with no inscriptions or markings of previous ownership. All of the eye-catching colour plates are also in very good order with their tissue guards, (tissues have tanned). Edges are shiny gilt.

Red cloth over boards have ornate gilt decoration to front, back and spine. The front and back are in superb, bright condition, with just a little rubbing to the corners. The book has been rebacked with the original spine cloth relayed. There were some areas of loss to the top and side before the relaying (see photos), and there was a little rubbing, but overall also very bright gilt and the decoration can still clearly be seen.

Your antique copy of Rustic Adornments will be wrapped with care in tissue and ribbon* and sent well packaged. I am always happy to add a gift message to the parcel if desired.

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H 19 cm x W 14 cm, 353 pages, 0.49 kg. I dispatch worldwide daily from the UK. (There are just a very few countries which I am unable to ship to).

* If you would prefer for your book not to be decoratively wrapped but sent simply in the full protective packaging please add a note to the order.

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