Green Magic: Flowers, Plants & Herbs in Lore & Legend by Lesley Gordon lands on the shelves of my shop, where it will be found in my Botany section.
London: Ebury Press, 1977, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Contains: Black & white photographs; Black & white plates; Title page vignette;
From the cover: Once you have read this book you will never look at a flower, a tree or even a patch of parsley in quite the same way again. It will add an extra dimension to your view of the world of nature.
Green Magic is about the hidden meaning and special properties attributed to plants by men and women who have been disturbed by their mysterious beauty and who have perceived more than is apparent to the senses. To the botanist, the herbalist, the astrologer and the magician, the same plant may have an entirely different significance; it will stand for something different yet again to the myth maker, the poet and the mystic.
Lesley Gordon leads us into her secret garden and gathering up all these entwined branches of knowledge, explains the practical uses and symbolic significances of plants in medicine, mythology, magic, religion and art.
As is appropriate to a theme so closely connected with the seasons, she touches on both the dark side and the light. To the poet Wordsworth, the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. But to the young lovers of his day, using the Language of Flowers to carry their discreet messages, the gift of a bunch of pansies meant You are always in my mind to which the girl might reply with a posy of garden daisies, meaning I partake your sentiments.
Very Good in Good Dust Wrapper. Dust wrapper unevenly and heavily sunned at the spine and upper panel. Top edge of the text block spotted. Price Clipped. Text complete, clean and tight.
200 pages. Index. 9¾” x 8½”.
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