An unexpected book arrives in the mail, a checklist for the Declaration of Independence

Every now and then you get surprised. I picked up my mail today and had a lovely copy of Stephen Matyas, Jr. new "Declaration of Independence: A Checklist of Books, Pamphlets, and Periodicals, Printing the U.S. Declaration of Independence, 1776-1825. With an appendix checklist of American newspapers printing the Declaration of Independence."

It can be purchased here. He is also offering it as a free .pdf at his website. He also included a "short checklist version" and a .pdf "additions and corrections." It is a remarkable work, in my first blush review, and I look forward to using it for years to come.

As it happens, I have about a dozen various reprints out of a recent collection...it is a lovely case of serendipity that this should land in my hands from the biblio-deities.

Wicked Plants is wicked good...

Amy Stewart (co-owner of Eureka Books (with husband Scott Brown)) has just published her most recent book, Wicked Plants. 

From the back of the book:

A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening red seed that stops the heart; a shrub that causes paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a war. Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature's most appalling creations in an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend.

Menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings create a fascinating portrait of the evildoers that may be lurking in your own backyard. Drawing on history, medicine, science, and legend, this compendium of bloodcurdling botany will entertain, alarm, and enlighten even the most intrepid gardeners and nature lovers.

I've grown more than one poison garden and am greatly looking forward to adding some plants from these pages... Can be ordered signed at retail cost directly from the author

[Note to Mother: Page 143-Purple Loosestrife (under "Destructive"). The battle continues...