A compelling association copy of the first edition of M. E. Stebbing’s 1934 Colour in the Garden, featuring the outlandish ownership signature of Constance Spry, the British floral artist and author, and (during the early 1930s) lover of Gluck; while she was no amateur gardener, Stebbing’s title and ethos would certainly have had resonance for Spry, who was known for her use of ‘colour-grouping’ in her outré flower arrangements for society and royal clients. Indeed, with her own (first) book published in 1934, Flower Decoration, Spry sought to fill a publishing void, writing: “So far I have failed to find books in which there is a general consideration of the use of flowers as part of a whole scheme of decoration; using flowers as an artist would use colours, using them to stress the architectural qualities or the colour values in a room”, with chapters IV-VIII dedicated to ‘White Flowers,’ ‘Green and Grey,’ ‘Red and Pink,’ ‘Yellow, Gold, Cream, and Brown,’ and ‘Blue Flowers’. Stebbing expressed similar sentiments in relation to gardening as art, citing in her introduction: “one great woman gardener [writing] to another [... that:] ‘Gardening, in truth, is work for an artist,’” as well as highlighting Gertrude Jekyl,’s intention to teach “how to use plants in the way they deserve [...with...] careful placing of plants for colour”. Spry and Stebbing also shared an interest in and use of “uncommon kinds” of plants, with Spry incorporating fruit and vegetables, as well as hedgerow and littoral flowers in her creations.
Constance Spry (1953 [1934]) Flower Decoration. London: J. M. Dent & Sons Limited.