The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

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This is a thoroughly charming and lovely diary, filled with gorgeous paintings and delightful observations of the English countryside around the turn of last century. So much of that world is gone forever, so this is a treasure. I adored the paintings and the bits of trivia about each month, and especially enjoyed the poetry, including my favorite bit of Burns - "To a Mouse" -- Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim’rous beastie, O, what a panic’s in thy breastie! One sad thing to note here is that Holden’s book was written over a century ago. I noticed that some of the species which she talks about as being common – birds, butterflies, and flowers – are things which I have never seen anywhere in Britain. The Animal's Friend (four volumes, 1907–1910, the magazine of the National Council for Animals' Welfare) Edith was born in 1871; she and her two younger sisters, who were also very talented, studied at the prestigious Birmingham School of Art, and were encouraged to follow their interests as much as was possible. For Edith, the choice to study the natural world in her art specialisation was ‘obvious’. This biography of Edith Holden Smith, as far as it is able, tells the story of the naturalist artist behind the pen and paintbrush of "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" (which was published some fifty years posthumously).

What I found so interesting was her introduction of each month and the history of the months name. I hadn't known where the name January came from. Had never even thought about it.

Oct 14: Walked to Catherine de Barnes to get some Dogwood berries, which I knew were plentiful in the hedges about there. Travel Journal, Adventure Book for Couples or Graduation Gift, Travel Scrapbook Christmas Gift for Women or Best Friend, Collecting flowers from a riverbank at Kew Gardens, she drowned in the Thames in 1920. [1] Life [ edit ] This book changed the way I look at the world. I found it years ago, on a table in front of an old church, at a community garage sale.

A number of her illustrations have since been used on tie-in products, from books such as Country Diary Recipes to cookware, stationery and ornaments. Before the death of Edith's mother Emma in 1904, the Holden family had become Spiritualists. The Holdens held regular Spiritualist seances at home in Olton, with the intention of communicating with the spirit of their deceased wife and mother. Edith and her four sisters were instrumental in assisting their father with these communications, which culminated in 1913, when Edith's father published them in his own diary, entitled Messages from the Unseen, only weeks before his own death.

I first got Edith (Holden) Smith’s The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, asa gift, and then later found this biography to compliment the diary. It’s inspired me to create my own country diary of the animals and flora of the place where I live. Every month I read the month that it is, in her diary which is organized by months. I’m currently up to June. urn:lcp:countrydiaryofed0000hold:epub:bb35e452-3773-48ef-b7e9-1fc4ec74fe27 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier countrydiaryofed0000hold Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t3fz8330x Invoice 1652 Isbn 0718115813 Lccn 79301513 //r90 Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-alpha-20201231-10-g1236 Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9733 Ocr_module_version 0.0.13 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-NS-2000261 Openlibrary_edition A great deal of research went into this, and even though personal details were scarce, much of Edith's professional work is documented here. It was a well-written biography that had very limited information to work with. It really is too bad that more was not known of her.