The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, 1906 by Edith Holden, Rouben Mamoulian Collection (Library of Congress) (1977, Book, Illustrated)

A friend told me about this book. I checked out prices at various sites on the web. Then I checked Ebay. The prices on Ebay were 1/5th the prices of the other sites. I bid on it and won.
the book was delightfully written by an English school teacher in 1907. She recorded the different aspects of nature she encountered each day for about a year. Eventually, her writings were put away, not to be found until 70 or so years later. The book was then published in 1978. If you like to spend your winter days or nights dreaming of the upcoming spring, then get this delightful book.

A very unique and exquisite book,truly one of a kind. The author is an illustrator at the turn of the century (1906). She made regular entries in calligraphy, illustrated with her own watercolors drawn at the same time. Each page is like a separate work of art. One gets some sense of presence while reading it as a good bit of the authors' mood and perspective come through. This is not simply a diary. It is, rather,a record of one entire year in the countryside of England, where one senses an elegance often lost in the busy and driven modern day world. She also notes holidays obscure to
Americans giving it a feel of quaintness The great photographer Ansel Adams often spent an entire day observing the change of light in a scene before photographing it. So, in order to record something, one has to get to know it. This cannot be done in a glance. The author shows her intimate awareness of her environs with this work. In a sense it seems a labor of love. I have given copies to four people as gifts so far and expect to give more. review by Douglas, of Course.