There is one at least which is on sale on Ebay for over £200. Not that anyone would pay that amount for it. And I am not going to say what it is in case.
I have been buying Gardening books for a very very long time so that is my excuse. And yes I have read them all at least once, even the full RHS Dictionary (5 volumes).
I can't post a photo at the moment because my books are in my house in France and I'm at OH's house in England. I have quite a lot. Before Internet I referred to them quite often. I liked my big encyclopaedias about flowers, Food From Your Garden, the books on garden design and, especially, books by Chistopher Lloyd and Beth Chatto.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
I inherited my dad's collection of gardening books, which includes a lot of really old and interesting things he bought second hand (like "Colour schemes for the flower garden" by Gertrude Jekyll, and a series of "My Garden" magazines from 1934 to 1948. The adverts in the magazines are almost the best bits... how about a 1lb box of Bassett's liquorice allsorts for 1/-? (That's 5p for those of you under 27.) Or a Vauxhall Big Six 20 hp 5-seater saloon with no-draught ventilation for £325? Or... Radioliser radioactive plant tonic, guaranteed to charge your plant roots with radioactive energy. Only 1/6 per carton...)
And I also have several shelves of gardening books I bought myself.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Yes, @BenCotto. Maybe my maths is at fault but I'm surprised the 1934 Vauxhall car wasn't more than £325 (seems to be £23,425 today, using your rates of increase). The average weekly wage was £1.10s 8d in 1934 though, so it would still be way beyond the means of most, I reckon.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
I have about four gardening books and they are wedged under the cookery books. The advice in them is dangerously outdated, particularly advice on dealing with pests and weeds. I'm sure there are better books out there, but I didn't buy them.
These are some of mine - as you can see if you look closely, I'm not all that particular about making sure everything is in its proper place - a few interlopers there. Which also means there are a few gardening books in amongst the sci-fi novels and pump sizing manuals
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
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And I also have several shelves of gardening books I bought myself.
1/- or 5p in 1934 is worth £3.61 today. 1/- in 1948 equates to £1.98.
Measured against how long you would have to work to buy a packet, they’re much, much cheaper today.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”