An Edwardian Lady's Flower Album by Agnes Katherine Landale
This charming flower calendar is a facsimile edition of a hand-illustrated manuscript created in 1913 by A K Landale. Agnes Katherine Landale, or Aggie as she was known to her family and friends, was married to an Indian merchant with a Scottish background. She lived in the pretty Surrey village of Limpsfield in a large house, where a team of eight gardeners tended a large garden with far-reaching views down to a lake and the village church beyond. It had an abundance of colour overflowing with plants. An enormous greenhouse was crammed with peaches, nectarines and grapes. Aggie took inspiration from this remarkable garden to create this lavish calendar. Every page blossoms with hand-painted watercolour illustrations of seasonal plants for each day of the year and hand-drawn poems for every week of the year. Flowers of the cheerful days of Spring Come at my magic summoning! Flowers of the Summer's golden age Come when I call to deck my page! Bright things that, as the year grows old, Light the sad Earth with red and gold, And flowers that bloom in Winter snows, Sweet snowdrops, or a Christmas rose: Come at my touch, that all who look May see you mirrored in my book. Anon.