nichepoetryandprose

These are some of the books I have read on the subject of natural spaces.  Perhaps you’d enjoy them too!  I’ll be adding more from time to time!

Stuckey, Charles F. , 1988, ‘Water Lilies’, Hugh Lautner Levin Associates, Inc. New York. ISBN 0-88363-323-X

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Joyce Putnam. 1991. ‘Seven Years with the Group of Seven’. Quarry Press, Inc., Kingston.  ISBN 1-55082-013-3

David Booth.  1995. ‘Images of Nature: Canadian Poets and the Group of Seven’  Kids Can Press Ltd., Toronto.  ISBN 1-55074-272-8

Paxton Chadwick.  Wild Flowers.  1949 (1964 edition).  Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth, Middlesex.

a glimpse of the charming drawings of wildflowers in Paxton Chadwick’s book

Gaston Bonnier and G. de Layens.  Flore complète portative de la France et de la Suisse.  1947.  Librairie Gênêrale de l’Enseignement, Paris.

as you can see, I only paid 10 cents for my copy of the book!

pages from the Flora of France and Switzerland

Robert S. Lemmon and Charles C. Johnson.  Wildflowers of North America in Full Color.  Hanover House, Garden City, New York.  1961. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 61-5862

Lemmon and Johnson. Wildflowers of North America. 1961

A page on the Violets from Lemmon and Johnson, showing their photographs and descriptive text.

R. F. Smith.  Our Atlantic Woods: A Photo Guide to non-timber Forest Products.  2010. Fundy Model Forst, Sussex. 2010. ISBN 978-0-9731556-4-8.

Smith, 2010. Our Atlantic Woods. A photographic guide to uses of forest plants,

A copy of Our Atlantic Woods can be obtained at the Fundy Model Forest website.

pages from ‘Our Atlantic Woods’ showing the type of information provided

Cindy Etter-Turnbull.  Fine Lines: a celebration of clothesline culture. Pottersfield Press, Lawrencetown Beach, Nova Scotia. 2006. ISBN 1-895900-77-8.

‘Fine Lines’ A funny, charming book about clotheslines, including anecdotes and research about people hanging their clothes to dry.

Boughton Cobb.  A Field Guide to the Ferns and Their Related Families.  The Peterson Field Guide Series. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 1963.  ISBN 0-395-19431-8.

‘A Field Guide to the Ferns’  Very helpful guide with a simple pictoral key using silhouettes and a species key with detailed drawings and descriptions.

McCullough, David Willis. The Unending Mystery: A Journey Through Labyrinths and Mazes. Pantheon Books, New York. 2004. ISBN 0-375-42306-0.

‘The Unending Mystery’ is a thorough exploration of labyrinths and mazes in landscape and history. He includes directions on how to draw a Creton Labyrinth.

Aidan Meehan. Celtic Design – The Dragon and the Griffin: The Viking Impact. Thames and Hudson, New York.  1995. ISBN 0-500-27792-3.

‘The Dragon and the Griffin’ explores Viking style in art. Clear diagrams and analysis of the types of carvings found on many Viking rune stones.

Tasha Tudor. 1 is One. Rand McNally & Company, Chicago. 1956. 56-11381.

‘1 is One’ by Tasha Tudor… a children’s book about numbers

Tasha Tudor’s books contain charming illustrations…

a page from Tasha Tudor, 1 is One, 1956

This group of six books are favorites from my childhood. 

What do these books have to do with ‘niche’?  Each embeds its characters securely in landscape.

L. M. Montgomery.  The Blue Castle. McLelland and Stewart, Toronto. 1926.

still my favorite book… about a woman living in the Muskoka area of Ontario

Ruth Alberta Brown. Heart of Gold. The Saalfield Publishing Company, Chicago. 1915.

the adventures of Peace Greenfield and her family

L.M. Montgomery.  Anne of Green Gables.  The Ryeron Press, Toronto. 1942.

a favorite for many people… the adventures of Anne Shirley, a kindred spirit, in Prince Edward Island

Bess Moyer.  Gypsies of the Air. The Goldsmith Publishing Company, Chicago. 1932.

two young pilots solve a mystery

Carolyn Keene.  The Mystery of the Tolling Bell. Grosset & Dunlap, New York. 1946.

Nancy Drew solves a mystery involving a sea-side cave

Amy D. V. Chalmers. Madge Morton’s Secret. The Saalfield Publishing Company, Akron.  1914.

friends pursue adventure on a houseboat

These books are some of my current favorites:

Helen Coldrick.  New Brunswick’s Covered Bridges.  Neptune Publishing Company Pimited, Saint John.  ISBN 0-9692218-3-5    (no date)

includes historical information and excellent pencil drawings of many of the covered bridges of New Brunswick

Roger Tory Peterson and Margaret McKenny. 1968. A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and Northcentral North America.  Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.  ISBN 0-395-183251

a must-have for quick identification in the field

Kenneth Grahame.  2007. The Wind in the Willows.  Blue Heron Books, Vancouver. ISBN 1-897035-38-1 (bound)

a memorable tale of animals who are shaped by their lives along the river

Sharon Butala. 1994. The Perfection of the Morning – An Apprenticeship in Nature.  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.,  Toronto.  ISBN 0-00-638026-3

about establishing a relationship between self and landscape in southern Saskatchewan

Nicholas Guitard. 2009. Waterfalls of New Brunswick. Goose Lane Editions, Fredericton. ISBN 978-0-86492-543-5.

a descriptive guide to many of the waterfalls in New Brunswick

A. Glen Ryan.  1978. Native Trees and Shrubs of Newfoundland and Labrador. Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John’s.

well illustrated with drawings and including bits of nature lore

A.E. Roland and E.C. Smith.  1969. The Flora of Nova Scotia.  The Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax.  Reprinted fromThe Proceedings of  the Nova Scotia Institute of Science, Volume 26.

my battered copy of ‘Roland and Smith’

Hannah Hinchman.  1997.  A Trail Through Leaves: The Journal as a Path to Place.  W.W. Norton & Company, New York.  ISBN 0-393-3I885-0 pbk.

in journal form, well-illustrated

Robert Frost.  1996.  Versed in Country Things. A Bullfinch Press Book – Little, Brown and Company, Boston. ISBN 0-8212-2288-0.  (edited by Edward Connery Lathem; Photographs by B.A. King).

poems by Robert Frost about country life, accompanied by photos