Herbs and the Earth - Henry Beston

From one of America's most sensitive and fervent nature writers comes this classic of herbal lore and legend, now in paperback. This is not strictly a gardening book (although there is plenty for the gardener to learn in it) but a singular example of a man thinking about what he grows-not onlyhowit grows, but its roots in religion, Bible, history and medicine. The book was written at Beston's home, Chimney Farm, the Maine home- stead immortalized inNorthern Farm' where he repaired in 1931 with his wife, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and where he died in 1968. Beston described his efforts as part garden book, part musing study of our relation to nature through the oldest group of plants knowntogardeners.But, asRogerSwainobservesinhismoving introduction, Herbs and the Earthhas an intensity that evokes the herbs themselves, as if, pressed between the pages, their aroma has seeped into the pages. The book is lovingly illustrated with the strong and simple woodcuts of the great stone-cutter/ letter-designer/craftsman John Howard Benson