Collecting Gardening Literature

Horticultural books are ten-a-penny, but some could prove very valuable in the future, notes the Telegraph.

From the piece...

Park says: “If the term 'collectables’ has a suggestion of 'investment’ about it then I feel that 20th-century books are now a very difficult area. So much has changed in the past 20 years regarding the way texts and knowledge are disseminated, and it is the more modern books which have suffered badly. Most publishers now 'remainder’ their books – which means that hundreds, if not thousands, of copies hit the shelves and the internet at a fraction of their original price. Occasionally a book will sell out before this happens, and if the publisher feels that a reprint is not justified then sometimes second-hand demand outstrips supply and the price leaps.” 

Park cites three volumes by fashionable Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf: Planting the Natural Garden, Designing With Plants and Planting Design, as recent books that are worth holding onto – they’re now fetching £60 plus. And he says books on other 20th-century designers are also collectable, as is garden history: “Although styles go in and out of fashion, they still influence what follows.”