An Island Garden

Celia Thaxter created a spectacular flower garden on Appledore Island, made more remarkable given the rocky coastal soil. She arranged the plants in her garden not by color scheme, but by height.

She documented her legendary garden in An Island Garden, with illuminations by famed impressionist Childe Hassam. The book cover was designed by friend Sarah Wyman Whitman. The gilt design of poppies with heart-shaped roots evokes the friendship between the gardener author and the designer, for whom the heart was a personal symbol.

The volume was one of the more expensive books of its day.