The Uncommon Garden
Gardening Australian Flora Natural History Vintage Australiana Environmentalism Art & Culture Botanical Illustration Women's Publishing
The Uncommon Garden by Joan Law-Smith is a scarce first-edition, 128-page hardcover celebration of Australia’s native flora, published in 1983 by the Women’s Committee of the National Trust Australia. Each spread pairs the artist-author’s luminous botanical paintings with concise, accessible text that explains where and how to grow the country’s most striking wildflowers, making the book both a practical gardening guide and a gallery-quality art book. Because Law-Smith was one of the nation’s leading natural-history illustrators, her life-size renderings of kangaroo paws, boronias, wax-flowers and desert peas are scientifically accurate yet vibrantly alive—images that collectors prize as much for their beauty as for their documentary value.
What makes this copy especially appealing to buyers is its untouched first-edition status: no inscriptions, ex-libris plates, or book-club alterations, just clean, tightly-bound pages inside the original dust jacket. The jacket shows the gentle sun-fading and light edge-wear typical of 40-year-old Australian publications, but the interior artwork remains vivid and free of foxing or tears. For collectors of Australiana, natural-history illustration, or women’s publishing, The Uncommon Garden sits at the intersection of art, horticulture and environmental heritage—an uncommon find in any condition.
Beyond rarity, the book’s enduring value lies in its double function. Gardeners and landscape designers still reference Law-Smith’s cultivation notes on soil types, watering regimes and companion planting, while art lovers frame individual plates or display the volume on a coffee table for its saturated colour palette and mid-century design aesthetic. As native-plant gardening and ecological landscaping surge worldwide, this vintage first edition offers both nostalgic charm and timely inspiration, packaged in a slim, giftable format that suits young adults discovering botany as well as seasoned collectors completing a Law-Smith set.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
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