Where am I most likely to find a catalogue printed in the late 1800's by Kinton Stevens, the owner of a nursery in Montecito, California, named "Tanglewood", the site of the present day "Lotusland"? Since the base for these fantastic gardens was originally planted with Chilean Wine Palms, Draceana draco, etc. I would like to see what exactly he offered for sale from his nursery and perhaps photos or drawings in the catalogue. Any ideas?
I would think it would be in the used book trade. Among other sites, maybe try Abebooks and Alibris. Or, of course, in botanical libraries, with the nearby university libraries being perhaps a good bet.
The Bailey Herbarium at Cornell University has a collection of 131 000 nursery catalogues from the 1700s to the present. You might try locating Brown, Thomas A., A List of California Nurseries and Their Catalogues 1850-1900. Petaluma, Calif. : T.A. Brown, 1993. (from here) Have any luck at Santa Barbara BG? Their library contains 1500 nursery catalogues, dating back to 1878.
Thanks to you and your suggestions, I hold in my hand a photocopy of the 16 page, 1893 edition of the very catalogue I sought... Nice networking folks.
Any nearby major university may have it. Find one that has nursery catalogs and then look for that one there.
