The second volume in Abbeville's critically acclaimed series Everyday Things unearths the fascinating story behind the basic yet inventively crafted implements that have enabled the human race to cultivate nature's bounty and beauty.

Garden tools are inseparable from gardens, and yet, while the history of gardens has been exhaustively explored, the story of garden tools has been virtually ignored—until now. As authors Suzanne Slesin and Guillaume Pellerin reveal in this lushly designed and nostalgia-filled volume, embedded in these familiar, everyday tools is a rich history that documents the tastes and passions of gardeners through the ages.

Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs of garden tools, as well as with vintage lithographs, engravings, posters, ads, and even decorative plates depicting garden implements, the book follows the gardening cycle, from "Preparing the Earth" to "Harvesting," and each chapter features the traditional tools used in that phase of gardening. The "Sowing" chapter, for instance, presents an array of dibbers, trowels, seeders, and terra-cotta pots, while the "Pruning" chapter offers a host of knives, grafters, pincers, saws, scythes, hatchets, billhooks, and a mind-boggling variety of pruners.

Today, vintage garden tools are being rediscovered and appreciated anew as much for their ingenuousness as for their sculptural and timeless form. Garden Tools cast these humble objects in a whole new light, and anyone who loves to dig a spade into the earth or prune a rosebush will find the book irresistibly compelling.

About the Authors

Suzanne Slesin, a former editor and reporter for the Home section of the New York Times, is currently design editor of Conde Nast House and Garden magazine. She is also co-author of Wire, the first volume in the Everyday Things series, and of the trendsetting Style Library, which includes New York Style and Caribbean Style. Guillaume Pellerin works as an architect in Paris and is the owner of the Botanical Gardens of Vauville in Normandy. Daniel Rozensztroch, co-author of Wire and many of the titles in the Style Library series, is the creative director of Marie Claire Maison in Paris. A freelance creative director and design consultant in London, Stafford Cliff designed Wire and all the books in the Style Library series. Renowned photographer Bernard Touillon is based in Paris, as is photo stylist Alix de Dives.