JOHNSON, Louisa. Every Lady Her Own Flower Gardener, addressed to the industrious and economical only. viii, 96pp., hand coloured title-page, and woodcut head-piece., half-title. A good copy in original blind and gilt stamped dark green linen cloth. The top of the back-strip just slightly chipped and the corners a trifle bumped. All-edges-gilt. The very scarce first edition. square 18mo. Wm. S. Orr & Co. 1839. ~ “In her work, Every Lady’s Guide to her own Greenhouse, Hothouse and Conservatory, [she] encouraged women into the greenhouse – until then the usual preserve of the Head Gardener. In her writings, Johnson presumed that her lady readers, although they loved their gardens, “knew little or nothing of plants” and therefore required instruction on the “ordinary operations of potting, showing, striking cuttings, and other necessary work among plants…”. Johnson also pointed out that, being mistresses of their homes, her readers were not eager “to submit to the whim and caprice of a professional gardener” – despite often being more than happy to direct their domestic servants, male or female, to assist them in the garden and greenhouse...” Ref: “Gardeners in Bloomers”, 2022.